
Book 



PKKSKNTHl) BY 



FATHER GAYAZZrS 

LIFE AND LECTURES. 



VALUABLE TESTIMONIALS 

m FAVOR OF THE GREAT PROTESTANT NOVEL. 

FROM FATHER GAVAZZI. 

New York Hotel, March 31, 1853. 
To Messrs. De Witt & Davenport, 

Gentlemen, — I have received with much pleasure the valuable work by Miss 
Sinclair. I had already seen it ; but it is a work which can never be too cften read, 
or too bisrhly appreciated God grant that the efforts of all true Christians, in the 
mission of enlightening- our brethren under the dominion of Jesuitism, may be suc- 
cessful. It is a work of great difficuJty — as the enemies we have to combat are artful 
and all-powerful. But God is more powerful than they ; and his inspiration will not 
wanting to help us to destroy this dark and Satanic institution. 
Imbued with these thoughts, I cannot but feel grateful to you for having called my 
;tention to this most useful and valuable of works ; and I trust that under the blessing 
of heaven this work will help to free the liberties of America from the yoke of Jesuit- 
ism. I have the honor to be, your devoted servant, 

ALESSANDRO GAVAZZI. 



FROM THE REV. NICHOLAS MURRAY, D.D. (the celebrated " Kirwan"). 

Messrs. De WrTT & Davenport, Elizabethtown, Feb. 1, 1853. 

Gentlemen, — Miss Sinclair has obtained for herself quite a reputation, and 
in the very best paths of literary pursuit. She writes to do good ; and with the genial 
vrarnith and true sentiment of Hannah More. A fitting sequel is Beatrice to her 
Papist Legends and Bible Truths, in which she terribly exposed the unmeaning frivolity 
ar,i vast absurdity of Romanism. In Beatrice she taxes all her energies, and the 
result is a work of deep interest and great power. Its object is to expose the deceptive 
Arts of Popery and of the Jesuits ; and this it does with great truthfulness and effect. 

It cannot be otherwise than greatly useful in aiding to remove from the world the 
great curse of humanity — Popery. May it be read in every house and hamlet in 
America. Truly yours, N. MURRAY. 



FROM REV. THOS. E. BOND, D D., 
Editor of th^ New York Christian Advocate and Journal. 
Messrs. De Witt & Davenport, 

Gentlemen, — I have read Beatrice with great interest, and beg you to accept 
my thanks, as a Protestant, for the timely issue of a work so well calculated to expose 
the wiles of the most insidious and dangerous enemy of the Truth of God the world 
has ever known. I am. Gentlemen, your obedient and humble servant, 

THOS. E. BOND, Sen. 



FROM REV. GARDINER SPRING, D.D., 
Pastor of the Presbyterian Brick Church, New York. 
Messrs. De Witt & Davenport, 

Gents, — Beatrice is a good book, and worthy of its distinguished author. It if 
well written, and calculated, at the present time, to be useful. As an exhibition of 
the practical errors of the Roman Catholic Church it deserves a wide circulation 
Portions of the work are also argumentative, and the argument is sound. 

Yours respectfully, GARDINER SPRING. 

FROM REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, 
Rector of the Church of the Annunciation, New York. 
To Messrs. De Witt & Davenport, 

Gentlemen, — I thank you for your copy of Beatrice, which I have read with 
pleasure. Although differing from the writer in some important matters, yet I 
approve of several features of the work, and particularly of its exposure of the doctrine 
of blind obedience as inculcated and practised in the Romish communion. To your 
question, whether you may use my name as sanctioning the publication of the work, 
I reply in the affirmative, and am, Gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, SAMUEL SEABURY. 



Extract of a Letter from REV. JOSEPH H. PRICE, D.D., 
Rector of St. Stephen's Church. 

To Messrs. De Witt & Davenport, 

Gen»'lemen, — I wo'old be glad to see the book (Beatrice) extensively circu* 
lated- Yours truly, JOSEPH H. PRICE 



THE GREAT PROTESTANT NOVEL 



''BEATRICE," 



PUBLISHED BY BE WITT & DAVENPORT. 



LETTER FROM FATHER GAYAZZI. 

"New York Hotel, March 31, 1853. 
*' To Messrs. De Witt & Davenport. 

" Gextlemen, — I have received with much pleasure the valua- 
ble work by Miss Sinclair. I had already seen it ; but it is a work 
which can never be too often read, or too highly appreciated. God 
grant that the efforts of all true Christians, in the mission of 
enlightening our brethren under the dominion of Jesuitism, may be 
successful. It is a work of great difficulty — as the enemies we 
have to combat are artful and all-powerful. But God is more 
powerful than they ; and his inspiration will not be wanting to 
help us to destroy this dark and Satanic institution. 

" Imbued with these thoughts, I cannot but feel grateful to you 
for having called my attention to this most useful and valuable of 
works ; and I trust that under the blessing of heaven this work 
will help to free the liberties of America from the yoke of Jesuitism. 

" I have the honor to be, your devoted servant, 

"ALESSANDRO GAVAZZL" 



FATHER GAVAZZI'S 

LECTURES m MW YORK, 

REPOETED IN FULL BY T. C. LELAND, PHONOGEAPHEE ; 

ALSO, THE 

LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI, 

COKRECTED AND AUTHORIZED BT TmVTSELF. 



TOGETHEE WITH 

REPORTS OF HIS ADDRESSES U ITALIAN, 

€ii jits C^ntitttrpra iu %m "^nrk* 



TEANSLATED AND REVISED BT MADAME JFLIE DE MAEGUEEITTE8. 



THIRD EDITION. 

NEW YORK: 
DE WITT AND DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS. 

160 & 162 NASSAU STREET. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 

DE WITT & DAVENPORT, 

In the Cletk's Office of the District Court, for the Southern District of New-York. 

and Nlrs, Isaac R.HHt 
Ju»y 3, 1933 



W. H. Tinson, Printer and Stsreotyper, 
22 Spruce Stretft, Nefw York. 



• 



PREFACE 



This sketch of Father Qavazzi's life and career seemed to be called 

for from the interest excited by him, during his short stay in New 

^York. It will likewise be necessary for those who have not followed 

^ 'his lectures, to explain the nature of his mission and the motivea 

"^ which actuate him. 

^^: Gavazzi, a man of liberal feelings and generous impulses, from his 

'^ earliest years, deeply felt the state of bondage both social and 

yr\ political, in which the Italians were kept. Actuated by these feel- 

-ings, he strove to disco ter the cause, and soon, came to the conclu- 

^ sion, that the ignorance in which the people were kept, the bigotry 

and superstition in wliich they were encouraged, were the causes of 

their social and political debasement. 

Profoundly versed in the various systems of the Church of Kome, 
Gavazzi soon discovered its falsehood, its utter want of principle, 
its culpable indulgence, its cowardly threats— he saw that through 
this deceitful code, miscalled religion, the people were ignorant, 
voluptuaries were maintained in a position to insure the temporal 
and despotic power of those who governed them, he knew that 
instead of seeking to civilize and enlighten, the Priests sought to 
mislead and enslave. 

This conviction led Gavazzi to another, namely, that a religion 
entailing such consequences, could not be the religion of God ; he 
studied the scriptures, he beheld the truth and he proclaimed it. 
. The regeneration of Italy is his object, to give the people confi- 
dence in themselves, in Heaven, and not in their priests, to instruct 
them, to civilize, that they may rise and claim the right of every 
individual, liberty of conscience and freedom of action. Tliis is the 
aim of his crusade, nobler far than that crusade undertaken to 
free the holy sepulchre, for it is to free the souls of miUions frpm 



X PREFACE. 

eternal bondage, and give the people their share in ths prosperities 

of life, monopolized by a privileged class and specially by the 
dissolute clergy of Rome. 

The publishers of the present Life of Gavazzi have received the 
following letter from the Father, and have made the corrections 
alluded to, which have been furnished them in manuscript. The 
present may therefore be considered as the most complete and 
authentic biography yet published of this extraordinary man. 

''New York Hotel, April I2th, 1853. 
"To Messrs. De Witt & Davenport. 

" Gentlemen : — I understand it is your intention to publish my 
life, as compiled by Campanella and Nicolini — for which I have 
given you authority. Although I ought to remain neutral in such 
an affair as this, you must allow me to rectify some errors which 
exist in these works — especially in that portion which concerns the 
recent troubles in Italy. Besides correcting these errors, it is my 
maxim that justice should be given to all, even to one's enemies; 
therefore it is that I send you these corrections — and also that the 
American public, whatever they may think of my life, may be 
assured that all the facts connected with it are correct, and that 
nothing in it is false. 

" Your obedient servant^ 

" Alessandro Gavazzi." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGC 

PREFACE 9 

CONTENTS 11 

INTRODUCTION 18 

LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI . ........ IT 

LECTURES IN NEW YORK, Ac, . ". 119 

Lecture i. — The Identity of Romanism and Paganism . . . 121 

Lecture ii. — The Jesuits 139 

Lecture m. — What is the Individual in the Romish System? . . 157 

Lecture iv.— The Infallibility of the Pope 172 

Lecture v. — Condition of the Nations imder the Romish System . 188 

Lecture vi. — The Blindness of Popery 199 

Lecture vii. — On Relics and Images 214 

Lecture vm. — ^Pius ix. 228 

Lecture ix. — The Inquisition and the Madiai 242 

Lecture x. — The Present War of Popery against Protestantism . 260 
DEMONSTRATION AT METROPOLITAN HALL. 

Address of Dr. Ferris 279 

Address of Dr. Cox 280 

Address to Father Gavazzi ......... 285 

Farewell Address of Father Gavazri 28T 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Publishers of the present volume feel that they have a 
right to congratulate themselves on offering so interesting and 
valuable a work to the American public. The fii'st edition of 
the " Life" of Father Gavazzi, which was published by itself, 
met a most favorable reception, and was sold in immense 
numbers, at all the Father's lectures, and by the trade through- 
out the country. This little memoir has been extended, and 
the events brought down to the present time, and the whole 
is now incoi'porated in the present volume, as a suitable intro- 
duction to the Lectures. 

Besides the regular course of ten Lectures, this volume con- 
tains a brief sketch of the Addresses in the Italian language, 
made by Father Gavazzi to his countrymen in New York, 
every Sunday evening, during the course of his English lec- 
tures. The publishers had at fii'st intended to insert these 
Italian lectures, in extenso ; but they discovered that this 
would occupy too much room, and would bring the price of 
the work beyond the point at which they had decided upon 
as being most favorable to a wide and unrestricted circulation. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

The sketches of these Addresses, which we furnish, present all 
their main features — while the regular Course, in English, are a 
well-considered digest of the whole body of facts, observations, 
arguments, and conclusions, upon which the reverend Father 
founds his mission. 

But it would be unjust to ourselves if we should omit the con- 
fession, that the report and publication of these Lectures has been 
a work of uncommon difficulty. In the first place, the reverend 
Father, who is a natural child of eloquence, sometimes forgets, 
in the impassioned portions of an address, that he is speaking 
in a foreign language, which often fails him at the very crisis, 
and compels him to resort to gesticulation and silent but ex- 
pressive face-workings, in order to communicate even the 
general form of his idea. Of course, all this it is impossible 
to report — and sometimes the m^re words alone would convey 
no idea whatever to the American reader. Then, of course, 
those inexplicable and detestable irregularities which make 
the English language a sort of gi'ammatical chaos, could not 
possibly be conquered by the reverend Father ; and his English, 
as all who have heard him will admit, was sometimes under- 
stood with great difficulty. Our Mr. Leland — the most accu- 
rate and faithful of phonogjaphers — was at first in dismay, and 
about to abandon in despair the task of reporting the Lectures. 
Still — ^the Father kept no notes, and avowed the utter impossi- 
bility of his writing out his Lectures. But we had undertaken 
the task, and did not mean to be driven from it by any ordi- 
nary difficulty. A lady, perfectly familiar with both the Eng- 
lish and Italian languages, and who, by a long residence in 
Italy had acquired a perfect knowledge of all the facts, i)laces, 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

and circumstances alluded to by the lecturer, was induced to 
become the amanuensis of the phonographer. Thus, the 
Lectures were written out entirely by her, from the dictation 
of the phonoglkpher, who preserved the exact words and 
Bounds uttered by the reverend father. From these, which of 
themselves would have been sometimes unintelligible, a report 
of the Lectures has been constructed which, it is believed, does 
justice to the ideas and arguments of the reverend Father, 
without sacrificing anything that was novel 9r characteristic 
in his style. 

The Father was himself fully aware of the great difficulty 
of reporting his Lectures fairly, and thus giving the public a 
correct representation of his ideas and arguments. The object 
to which he has devoted his life, is one of the noblest and 
most important that can inspire ambition ; and it was of the 
first consequence that there should exist some means of pre- 
senting his thoughts and ideas, without perversion or mutila- 
tion. In the brief and hasty sketches of his Lectures in the 
morning papers, this object was not always attained; and 
sometimes these sketches were so far from conveying the real 
meaning of the Father, that, as will be seen, he himself alluded 
to the matter, disclaimed the newspaper reports, and requested 
the public who did not hear him, to wait until a correct report 
of his Lectures should appear. We have already mentioned 
the pains we have taken to make this work worthy Df the 
occasion ; and, although from the very nature of the case, ab- 
solute literal accuracy may not have been at all times possible, 
yet we are quite certain that these pages present, in all essential 
particulars, the ideas, the facts, the arguments, and the condu- 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

sions of Father Gavazzi himself, upon the momentous questions 
which form the topics of his Lectures. 

Had the Father been one of those ordinary characters 
whose profoundest convictions never excite meir possessor to 
entlmsiasm, a better way, perhaps, would have been to write 
the Lectures in Italian, then translate them into English, and 
so read them to the audience. But Father Gavazzi is wholly 
incapable of so mechanical, so ignoble, a process as this. He 
is a true orator ; and, carried away by his subject, himself, 
and the occasion, it is impossible for him to confine himself to 
a part, conned and learnt by rote, like an actor. The secret 
of the power of eloquence is in the sincerity and earnestness 
of the speaker ; and it is almost impossible to associate the 
idea of sincerity and earnestness with the cold reading of a 
cold manuscript. No — although these Lectures, as they were 
extemporized by the speaker, laboring under an inadequate 
knowledge of our language, and frequently baulked in the 
middle of a sentence, for want of a word — although these 
Lectures, notwithstanding all the pains and care expended upon 
them, may still be here and there imperfect, they will be more 
effective than the most carefully studied treatise. 

A few words respecting the mission of Father Gavazzi, 
especially his visit to America, will not here be out of place, 
llie following is translated from a notice in Italian : 

"Father Gavazzi's mission is to preach a crusade against 
the power of the Pope, because Popery is inimical to the 
liberty of the people ; therefore his mission is political rather 
than religious ; therefore this courageous and fervent mission- 
ary deserves our respect and admiration for the unflinching 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

daring with which he throws down the gauntlet to this all- 
powerfiil enemy of all civil and religious freedom — Popery. 

" It is a difficjiilt work ; for the political influence of Rome 
is so mixed up with its religious power, that to attack the one 
seems like destroying the other. It is not to be hoped that 
he will completely succeed in his mission ; but it will be a 
great step gained, and he will be essentially benefitting man- 
kind should he only succeed in revealing the anti-liberal ten- 
dency of Popery, and the dangers which under its influence 
would threaten the Constitution of our flourishing Republic. 

* Beware,' says Gavazzi, ' the Papist Church, with slow and mea- 
sured steps, without noise, without vain boasting, is every day 
encroaching; and so it will go on, till, being sure of its power 
and position, it will arise, throw off" the mask, and everywhere 
proclaim its doctrines ; then farewell to your Republic, farewell 
all political freedom, all liberty of conscience, farewell all indi- 
vidual security ; farewell, in fact, to all those glorious privileges 
and institutions of this noble and magnanimous nation.' 

" There is but one way to check its ever-increasing power — 
impoverish it. Let a law be passed forbidding priests or reli- 
gious institutions to hold lands, or to inherit ; impoverish the 
Church of Rome, and it dies ; for to this sect, of all others, 

* riches are power.' 

" Yet it must not be imagined that Gavazzi is either an 
apostate or a sceptic. He belongs not to the church of the 
Pope, but he has declared that he is neither a follower of Lu- 
ther nor of Calvin, but simply a disciple of the Catholic Church 
founded by St. Peter, free from all the errors, lies, and abuses 
of the present Church of Rome. 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

"Whilst defending* political liberty j6.-om the inroads of 
Popery and Jesuitism, Father Gavazzi seeks to efface the petty 
differences of dogma, or of ceremonial, and strives to enlist 
all the followers of Chiist under one banner, bearing on it but 
one title, the proudest of all, that of Christians." 

In the Lectures of Father Gavazzi, here presented, the whole 
ground of Popery and its influence upon political freedom is 
ably reviewed. Gavazzi is the very apostle of freedom — for that 
he lives. It is evident that he has deeply and carefully studied 
the philosophy and practical working of our government, and 
that he deeply loves and venerates it. If, then, he sometimes 
appears to speak with too great severity of Popery, its evils, 
and its dangers, we must remember that his whole soul is 
engaged in this work, and that everything is to be forgiven 
for the sake of the intense love he entertains for our govern- 
ment and our institutions. May we only hope that his warn- 
ings do not come too late ; and that, plunged in the excite- 
ment of business and ambition, our people vdll not allow the 
influence of his words to cease as his voice dies away upon 
the ear. 



THE LIFE 



FATHER GAVAZZI 



The family of Gavazzi may be said to belong to 
history. His paternal grandfather was born of 
Italian parents, in Portugal, and at an early age was 
nominated Yice- Chancellor of his adopted country. 
The illustrious career which seemed thus opened to 
him was destined, however, to be of very brief dura- 
tion : his name was included in the list of the pro- 
scribed by the Marquis of Pombal, and, abandoning 
titles, wealth, and renown, he repaired to Bologna. 
Here his merits were speedily recognised, and the 
Senate raised him, with the title of Proconsul, to the 
highest dignity which can be conferred on a citizen. 
The maternal grandfather, Patuzzi, was president -of 
the Court of Appeal in the same town : he was a 
man of singular, rather than vast attainments, of an 
incorruptible integrity, and known among his fellow 
citizens, as was Aristides of old, by the honoured 
appellation of the just. Inscribed on his tomb are 
to be seen the words " Uomo giusto" — an epitaph more 
glorious in its laconic simplicity than the longest re- 
cord of warlike triumphs. Gavazzi's father filled suc- 
cessively the offices of judge in his native town, peace- 
magistrate at Forli, Professor of Law in the univer- 
sity of Bologna, and was moreover one of the chief 



18 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

advocates for the Papal States, and a bitter enemy 
of the Jesuits. 

These family details have been given, not with any 
false idea of blazoning to the world Gavazzi's lineage, 
but rather to show that nobility of birth did not 
with him entail the necessity of supporting the cause 
of oppression and of opposing every social improve- 
ment. His generous spirit lightly threw off these 
trammels, and it is to himself rather than to ances- 
tral accident that the lustre of his name is due. 

The subject of this brief memoir was the second of 
twenty children. His remarkable talents, which 
displayed themselves at an early age, were sedulously 
cultivated by his father, and bore their fruit in timely 
season. . . 

At the age of sixteen he took a step, the motive 
of which it is difficult to divine^ — he became a monk 
of the Barnabite order. How came it that he, a 
man of strong mind, of lofty and impatient spirit, of f 
fervid passions, could voluntarily take caste with a 
race of weaklings, become a slave to prescribed 
ordinances, and subject himself to that monotonous 
ordeal from which the most vigorous intellects have 
scarce escaped unscathed ? True it is that the 
Barnabites are somewhat more liberal in their views, 
and less rigorous in point of discipline than other 
monkish orders, but these modifications are neces- 
sarily of trivial effect where the system is inherently 
vicious. There is a terrible uniformity in the views 
of the Roman Catholic priesthood, however vari- 
ous its sects ; and blind submission to superstitious 
dogmas— the subjection of reason to faith— still 
remain the lessons inculcated on its members. Espe- 
cial pains are taken with the secular portion of the 
community, since they are most exposed to the temp- 
tation of freedom of thought. We repeat then, 
that it is difficult to conjecture what induced a man 
of Gavazzi's mould to become a priest. There ai-e 
certain secrets which a man locks up in his own heart, 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 19 

or reveals only to a chosen few who sacredly keep 
the trust reposed in them. Being unable then to 
assert aught positively upon this point, we at least 
deem it incumbent upon us to show, from extrinsic 
evidence, that the objects which determined his 
choice were lofty. 

Let us digress for a moment to consider the hetero- 
geneous elements which compose the Roman Catholic 
priesthood. It often happens that the priest comes 
from the lowest walks of life. His poor parents, 
stung by ambition and a superstitious pride, pinch 
and spare to give their son the necessary educa- 
tion ; and after certain preparatory initiations, the 
victim of bigoted prejudice finds himself a priest, 
he scarce knows how or why. Frequently the 
motive is baser still. In place of ignorance, it is a 
mere monetary calculation : a priest's pay is sufficient 
to maintain his family, and .the money laid out in his 
education is considered in the light of a profitable 
investment of capital. Sometimes again, moved by 
the same sordid motives, a family which has suffered 
reverses of fortune dedicates one of its number to 
the priesthood, in hopes of securing one of the 
splendid prizes (the scarlet hat or other lucrative 
honours) which this career offers, and thus regaining 
the influence of which circumstances have deprived 
it. A more dangerous element is to be found in those 
who, having been educated at the charitable charge 
of the bishops and other magnates, enter, from a 
necessary gratitude, the clerical profession. They 
become the blind instruments of their patron's will — 
spies, or, if need be, the ready executors of any iniqui- 
tous design. Charity is the cloak which covers a 
fiendish compact, whereby they are bound, body and 
soul, to those who reared them. 

Here and there, from amidst tonsured priests, rises 
a patrician head : the sub-divided patrimony was in- 
sufficient to maintain family vain-glory : hence this 
strange apparition. Disappointed ambition, blighted 



20 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

affections, or a morbid distaste for the world and its 
vanities, often drive men to this as a last resource. 

There is in truth something so avowedly anoma- 
lous, so contrary to nature, in the position of a Roman 
Catholic priest, that when by some rare accident one 
of them rises from the crowd of his fellows, making 
himself conspicuous by the elevated freedom of his 
thoughts, by his power of mind or by the vastness of 
his learning, the question runs from mouth to mouth, 
*' how became he a priest ?" Assuredly not from 
choice : and vain conjectures are wasted in endeavour- 
ing to explain the curious problem. Far be it from 
us to deny that there do not exist some noble in- 
stances of men who, feeling the sacred nature of theii 
mission, undertake the laborious duties which a con- 
scientious spirit imposes upon them with a cheerful- 
ness and abnegation which cannot be too highly 
praised. Renouncing, perhaps, not without many a 
weary sigh, the sweet pleasures of social life, they 
address themselves with courageous simplicity of 
heart to their task ; they till with unwearied zeal the 
most stubborn soils, and scattering with open hand 
the sacred seeds of truth that the fruits may be 
reaped by others, look for no reward save that arising 
from the consciousness of having benefited humanity. 
These are the true servants of God, and they shall 
not be forgotten in the day of reckoning. 

If now we look at the points already touched upon 
in Gavazzi's character — his determined energy, free- 
dom of thought, and the noble generosity of his 
nature ; if we review his laborious works, which have 
subsequently borne abundant fruit, and reflect that 
he sprung from a family in which wisdom and probity 
were hereditary virtues, it is with a full and pleasur- 
able conviction of its truth that we assert his choice 
of the priestly function to have been untainted by 
motives of family aggrandizement, of superstition, or 
self-interest ; there was no place in that vigorous 
spirit for morbid sentiment, — the hypocrite and he 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 21 

had nothing in common— and in adopting the career 
ot priest he sought only to consummate a self-imposed 
sacrifice— that of denying all to himself the more 
largely to benefit his fellow men. His after life 
proved that he had not underrated his powers of self- 
immolation : hatred and persecution, punishments, 
every bitterness which the bigotry of the Roman 
priests and prelates could devise, served not to turn 
him from his purpose, but he held on his way, toiling 
bravely m behalf of others, and fulfilling that which 
he deemed to be his mission, with a generous devo- 
tion which esteemed obstacles but as incentives to 
renewed efforts. 

Gavazzi had then entered upon a conventual life 
and was subjected to the dreary discipline of the no- 
Titiate. Much valuable time was idly spent in the 
usual superstitious observances, while the hours of 
study were devoted to the folios of Roman Catholic 
aivmes, from whose pages are drawn the sophistical 
weapons by which maxims of more than dubious 
wlf • ^1 ^""^ M ^? ^^PP?^'*ed and made good against 
heretical assailants. The Bible is rarely seen in the 
priest's hand, or, if it be used, the edition is one in 
wiiich the text has been garbled and disfigured by 
xtomisn comments. ^ 

+niw^^/J^ ^^^ *^^^ ^^^^ of impediments the keen in- 
tellect of Gavazzi cut its way. He advanced in know- 
ledge with rapid strides, and so great had his literary 
attainments become in a few years, that at the Jq 
01 twenty he was selected to fill the professorial chair 
ot rhetoric and belles-lettres in the public College of 
Caravaggio, at Naples. It was a strange sight to see 
this man, surrounded by pupils of nearly equal years, 
listening with a veneration paid generally to old a^e 
.^V ?v^^ lessons of wisdom which fell from his 
youthtul lips ; to see him confidently accepted as their 
guide to all that is great and sublime in the recrions 
ot literature and art, and recognized as the aesthetic 
judge, whose decisions were final. That it required 



22 LIFE OF FATHER GAYAZZI. 

not only talents of a very high order, but also infinite 
tact, adequately to fill this post, must be obvious on 
reflection. A young man instructing youth — the 
teacher and the learner almost on a par as regards age 
— yet was severity so tempered by discretion, and 
friendship so divided from familiarity, that the love 
and respect alike of his scholars were gained by Ga- 
vazzi. He thus gave indications at that early age of 
that influence over his fellow-men, which in his subse- 
quent career developed itself in so extraordinary a 
manner, until at length it became the moving cause 
of a revolution as generous in its objects as it was 
unfortunate in its issue. 

The time now approached when he was compelled 
to repair to Arpino, for ordination, and so well had he 
succeeded in winning the affections of all during his 
stay at Naples, that his departure was a signal for 
a general sorrow : the young felt that they had lost 
a father ; those of riper age a brother ; none had not 
lost a friend. 

At Arpino, it is the custom of those preparing for 
ordination to lead a life of scrupulous retirement, to 
pass their days in solitary meditation, and to prepare 
their mind by spiritual exercises for that life of denial 
to which those who become monks are bound by their 
vows. But this space, usually dedicated to quiet 
thought, oftener, however, to dull inactivity, was not 
left unfilled by Gavazzi. According to a known law 
in the priesthood, a monk has no will save that of his 
superiors; and in obedience to higher commands, 
Gavazzi went forth to preach in Terra di Lavoro and 
Calabria. 

Young as he was, the might of his eloquence had 
already marked him out for the preacher's office, (a 
highly honoured function in the Church of Rome, 
whose aim ever is to seek power through the passions) 
and the result showed how well the selection had 
been made* Gavazzi's journey through Calabria was 
a veritable ovation. Attracted by the magic of his 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 23 

oratory, the people flocked in crowds to hear a man 
who seemed to them inspired, and when he returned, 
at the expiration of a year, it was with the reputa- 
tion of a consummate orator. 

After being ordained, he went to Leghorn, and re- 
ceived a scholastic appointment as teacher of belles- 
lettres, but his stay in that town was short. He en- 
countered the envy of rival professors, and having 
moreover- incurred the suspicion of the authorities, 
was forced to quit the place. 

And here let us pass in brief review the condition 
of those who undertake the instruction of youth in a 
despotic country. No profession is more arduous, or 
calls so often for the jealous interference of the 
powers that be : the cause is clear. A love of liberty 
and, a detestation of tyranny are the lirst deductions 
which youth draws from the study of history, ancient 
and modern. We have little experience here of that 
enthusiastic temperament, of that spiritual exaltation, 
which, acting like a species of moral drunkenness 
upon the excited minds of men tyrannically governed, 
causes them to see in every instance of patriotic devo- 
tion narrated in the pages of the past some parallel 
with the present, which induces them to seek or form 
for themselves an opportunity of imitating the deeds of 
those heroes who, by a sublime self-sacrifice, gave up 
their lives to save their country. There is something 
contagious in the passionate fervour of youth : and 
the master kindling up afresh at the fire which him- 
self has created, rises above the dull realities of life, 
forgets the dire necessities of subordination, and 
gives fluent utterance to doctrines which grate 
harshly on the ears of those who draw but one dis- 
tinction between man and man, that of master and 
slave. Under a despotic government, the system of 
espionage is nowhere more strictly carried out than 
in the schools: spies are to be looked for among 
brother professors, nay, often among the pupils them- 
selves : words are watched and reported, and an im- 



24 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

prudent outburst of patriotic eloquence is followed 
by dismissal from office, if indeed the offence be not 
more severely punished. Such was the fate of Ga- 
vazzi at Leghorn. He was a man of too much note 
to escape suspicion : a most rigid surveillance was 
exercised over all that he said or did ; and it was 
intimated to him, shortly after his arrival, that he 
could no longer hold office as an instruotor of youth 
under pain of incurring a high penalty. He accord- 
ingly left Leghorn, and, abandoning the teacher's 
post, resolved to dedicate himself henceforward en- 
tirely to public preaching. If his newly selected 
avocation gave him greater scope for the display of 
his powers, and the furtherance of his ends, it also 
brought with it fresh dangers, toils, and persecutions. 

He had now chosen the chequered career of a 
man who goes forth to do battle for a great cause ; — 
if he had his hours of triumph, those of bitterness 
followed hard upon ; if he gained warm friends, he 
made also inveterate enemies ; he was adored as a 
hero by some, while others found no title too vile 
whereby to designate him. 

The Jesuits showed themselves his most implacable 
foes, and unscrupulously employed every weapon 
which a fierce hatred could supply to crush him. But 
they had to deal with no ordinary opponent in Ga- 
vazzi. In vain they sought to dismay a man to whom 
fear was unknown ; — armed with the panoply of 
truth, he singly stood his ground like some brave 
warrior against a host of assailants, he fought a good 
fight, and, speaking or silent, still remained the vic- 
tor. Banishment to him was but a change of place ; 
and with every new arena, new triumphs came. 

The reader who is not versed in Italian customs, 
and the policy of the Roman Catholic Church, will 
have some difficulty in understanding how an open 
field is afforded to the preacher to communicate his 
sentiments to the people without let or hindrance. 
A word then on the position of those whom we may 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 25 

style the sacred orators of Italy. The low status 
which Italy occupies in the scale of nations is chiefly 
due to those foolish and oppressive laws which weigh 
down all freedom, political or religious, and yet, by 
a curious inconsistency or oversight on the part of 
those who framed these tyrannical restrictions, an 
extraordinary degree of immunity is granted to those 
who, wearing the priest's robes, dedicate their talents 
to public preaching. The preacher-priest is least of 
all men exposed to authoritative interference, if he 
use but common prudence. If he attain but a modi- 
cum of oratorical renown, this slender fame becomes 
his safeguard ; the people take up his cause ; public 
opinion declares in his favour ; a brief delay suffices 
to save him from persecution, and the law having 
made no provision to meet the case, even the dreaded 
implement of espionage falls powerless upon his pro- 
tected head. It was the consciousness of these privi- 
leges which decided Gavazzi to launch himself in a 
career Avhich enabled him to speak the language of 
truth without fear of molestation, if he were but mo- 
derately cautious in his choice of words. 

Scarcely had he entered upon his pilgrimage, ere he 
was surrounded by eager crowds of listeners. The 
lessons which he preached to them were, to fear God, 
honour, virtue, and love their country. That his 
theme was ever the worship of that which is great 
and good, need scarce be told to those of our readers 
who have heard him speak in this country, but they 
have yet to learn what fruit followed his labours. If 
it be true that the greater the gathering of men, the 
greater is the harvest, then assuredly much was 
reaped. Multitudes flocked to hear him preach, but 
he cloyed them not with honeyed words ; he tickled 
not their ears with the soft blandishments which draw 
a fashionable crowd to hear some popular preacher 
hold forth. No. Gavazzi's eloquence was of a dif- 
ferent stamp — it was the manly eloquence of the 
servant of the Lord striving to inculcate upon Ms 

2 



26 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

hearers minds, in plain and forcible language, thoso 
" eternftl truths that perish never." Piedmont was 
for ten years the principal theatre of his pious labours, 
and the towns of Asti, Alexandria, Vercelli, and 
Turin, were successively visited by him in the fulfil- 
ment of his mission. The seeds which he sowed fell 
upon no unfruitful soil ; none heard him without being 
edified, and the love and respect of all followed him 
whithersoever he went. He was twenty-five years of 
age, and already in the full tide of his reputation, 
when he commenced his daily preaching during the 
season of Lent at Piacenza, and he continued these 
sermons annually from this time forward during the 
remainder of his stay in Italy, visiting in their turn 
all the principal towns. 

Friends and foes now alike increased around him, 
and among the latter the so-called followers of 
Jesus made themselves conspicuous by the rancour 
of their opposition. The sect of the Jesuits has ever 
taken the lead in that perpetual crusade against truth 
and justice, which is waged by the lovers of Satan 
and his works here below, and now, under the power- 
ful protection of the Marquis de la Margherita, they 
directed their weapons against Gavazzi. During his 
ministry in Piedmont, Margherita succeeded in mak- 
ing his name a byword for all that is infamous : ho 
w^as a man of gloomy, bigoted, and tyrannical temper, 
who, under the mask of asceticism, concealed a hatred 
of all improvement, social or moral : an intolerant 
retrogradist in his opinions, he sought to check all 
intellectual progress in others, and surrounding the 
throne of Charles Albert with Jesuitical co-adjutors, 
he succeeded in gaining paramount influence over the 
mind of that weak prince. Alike servant and master, 
deceiver and deceived, this blind follower of the tenets 
of Loyola put himself at the head of the movement 
against the apostle of freedom. 

In the war of words which ensued, the themes chosen 
by Gavazzi, and his vigorous appeals to the under^ 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 27 

standing, stood out in advantageous contrast with the 
crafty and insidious doctrines taught by the Jesuitical 
preachers, whose constant aim is to enslave the will 
through the passions. Those seductive discourses 
addressed to the weak and worse portion of our 
nature ; the hollow cant about spiritual love in which 
too often the creature profanely supplants the Crea- 
tor ; the dulcet tones and amorous whines of these 
hypocritical dissemblers ; were seen in their true 
colours of dangerous worthlessness, when confronted 
with the plain sipiplicity and startling energy, with 
which the man of God, in a language worthy the pri- 
mitive fathers of the Church, proclaimed the saving 
truths of the Gospel. The audiences differed not 
more in character than did the effects produced upon 
them. Here, the passions are skilfully touched by 
pictures of a quintessential love in which the human 
element still predominates ; and the sobs, groans, and 
tears of excited women, show how artfully the 
preacher has addressed himself to his work ; there, a 
decorous and attentive silence reigns among the mul- 
titude, while they are bidden to forget man and raise 
their minds to God, that through Him their errors 
may be forgiven and their souls purified. 

It was war to the knife then between Gavazzi and 
the Jesuits, and it is not difficult to see how the 
struggle was to end. Margherita was Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, and a partizan of the Order of St. 
Ignatius. Too" much had been said, and said too 
well ; the truth had been too openly spoken ; the 
dark tenets of the sect too relentlessly exposed ; and 
above all, the bold advocate and assailant had been 
heard with too eager an attention not to render his 
stay on Piedmontese ground a source of fear and 
danger to his enemies. 

Might conquered right ; and since where Gavazzi 
was, Margherita could not be, the Minister remained 
and the preacher was expelled. This banishment 
from Piedmont was the greatest triumph his enemies 



28 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

could afford to him — it was to declare that violence 
alone could ensure them the victory. 

Parma was chosen by him as his next resting-place ; 
and here he abode four years. His renown increased 
daily, and with it the demand for fresh exertions upon 
his part, to which he responded so nobly, that on 
many occasions he found himself compelled to preach 
ten times in one day. This appears almost incredi- 
ble : to any other man— to one who possessed not his 
iron constitution, his indefatigable voice, and above 
all, that ardent zeal which sets at defiance all physi- 
cal fatigue — the task had been impossible ; and even 
with all these accessories, so superhuman does its ac- 
complishment appear, that were it not that irrefra- 
gable testimony of the fact can be adduced, we should 
have hesitated to record it in these pages. To ap- 
preciate duly the meritorious character of these won- 
derful exertions, it should be remembered that no vile 
motive of gain actuated him : it is the more needful 
to mention this, because it is not an uncommon cus- 
tom with the secular priests in Italy to prostitute 
their talents to a base desire of lucre, making a mere 
speculation of their sacred profession. Such a dis- 
grace cannot fall upon the convent priests, simply 
because in monastic life the individuality of the per- 
son is not recognized, and any benefit gained by a 
member accrues to the community at large. It could 
not be for fame simply that he toiled ; since that was 
already obtained, and secured upon an imperishable 
basis. He laboured solely to accomplish that mission 
to which he believed himself called ; to ameliorate 
the condition of his countrymen. 

So long, however, as Gregory the Sixteenth occu- 
pied the Papal throne^ it was not probable that a man 
of liberal and enlarged ideas would be permitted to 
pursue his career unmolested. New persecution and 
bitterness awaited Gavazzi. In a series of sermons 
which he preached at Bologna, patriotism and its vir- 
tues were unfortunately chosen as the theme. Th© 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 29 

subject and the manner in which it was treated, alike 
displeased the suspicious Pontiff, and a command to 
discontinue the discourses, quickly thundered from 
the Vatican, and he was bidden to exercise his voca- 
tion for preaching in the central prison of Parma. 
The Governor gave him here every advantage to. ex- 
ercise fully his great mission, naming him Chaplain 
extraordinary to all denominations of prisoners. To 
these he came more as a friend and brother than as 
one in authority. In this abode of vice and dark- 
ness he found an audience composed of eight hun- 
dred persons — prisoners and galley slaves. Daily he 
addressed them in discourse, striving to touch these 
hearts of bronze, and to instil into them some notions 
of piety and religion. He was addressing men in 
whom habitual vice had well nigh extinguished every 
human sympathy ; who cursed their chains, not a.«^ 
punishments, but as impediments to the committal of 
fresh crimes ; assassins who bit in idle rage those 
hands which they could not imbrue in the blood of 
others — wretches, in whose mouths the most horrible 
imprecations were familiar as household words, and 
whose seared consciences had long ceased to feel 
aught of remorse, save when they failed in the accom- 
plishment of some villanous design ; and yet the 
magic of his eloquence availed him even here — these 
savages were spell-bound by that wondrous oratory ; 
and, insensibly leading them on, he spoke in praise of 
virtue, honour and religion, of brotherly love and 
sweet Christian charity, until from admiration they 
passed on to conviction, and ere he left those dismal 
vaults, the divine ray of hope which entered with him 
had shed its beneficent influence upon minds as dark 
as the dungeons in which they were imprisoned, and 
in place of jarring blasphemies, might be heard voices 
in subdued tones speaking of repentance and the fear 
of the Lord. 
In these dungeons are confined all sorts of criminals, 



so LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

of suspected people imprisoned by the police. It 
also includes the house of correction for young offen- 
ders, for vagabonds, so that in the course of a year 
there are no less than five thousand persons within 
its walls, of all ages and conditions, from the infant 
on the breast of its mother, to men in the last stage 
of existence, sinking under the weight of years and 
crime. Thus, Gavazzi's mission was, beyond measure, 
fatiguing, the prisoners having no confidence but in 
him — he was the only medium employed between 
them and the authorities — and this confidence, even 
of the most inveterate criminal, he had obtained by 
his frank and cordial manner. All the other chap- 
lains were looked on as spies of the government, 
whilst Gavazzi they considered as a true and sympa- 
thizing friend. His duties, therefore, were both va- 
ried and arduous. Besides preaching the word of 
God, he instructed the ignorant, administered the last 
rites to the dying, he listened to their sorrows, he- 
comforted and consoled them ; and besides all thi^ 
spiritual assistance he had to provide for their mate- 
rial comfort and wants, for the prisons were horri- 
bly managed, the food was wretched, the infirmary 
badly organized, and the comfort of the prisoners 
utterly neglected. Many he taught to read and write, 
and finally accompanied the condemned to the place 
of execution. He was" never less than ten hours 
amongst the various cells of the prison, often to per- 
suade them to come to the Holy Communion ; at the 
great fete of Christianity, Easter Sunday, he would 
be the whole twenty-four hours with his beloved 
prisoners, taking only a slight refreshment, without 
leaving the walls of the prison. 

Exonerated, therefore, from all the former accusa 
tions of hypocrisy or insincerity which it was thought 
the sight of so much misery would reveal, Gavazzi 
resumed his preaching to the Italians, and although 
he did not abandon or forget the many objects of hia 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 81 

care in the prisons, he dedicated himself with renew- 
ed energy to the promulgation of the truth amongst 
his countrymen. 

He went to Perugia, where he preached with his 
usual success. In 1845 he delivered a powerful dis- 
course at Ancona, and in one of those fiery outbursts 
of sacred zeal which characterize the man, he over- 
stepped the limits assigned to him, and uttered some 
dangerous truths. The ire of Capellari and Lam- 
bruschini was aroused, and as the simple prohibition 
of speech seemed insufficient, he was removed to the 
College of the Novitiate of St. Severino, and there 
virtually imprisoned, as one who had been guilty of 
ribald and heretical attacks on the Church of Rome. 

The place of his confinement had not been chosen 
undesignedly. Nowhere had the bigoted and perni- 
cious doctrines of the Church of Rome more intolerant 
advocates — nowhere was their infringement visited 
with greater severity. A man of liberal ideas was 
looked upon as a monster of iniquity ; and Gavazzi's 
advent among them was the signal for the pouring 
out of the phials of wrath. Every indignity which 
monkish malice could suggest was heaped upon his 
head ; he was persecuted with the utmost rigour of 
conventual discipline, and for the space of twelve 
months his life was one of wretchedness and misery. 

About this time an event occurred which diifused a 
Reeling of joy throughout Italy, and at the same time 
brought hope and release to the imprisoned Barnabite. 
Gregory died, and a Pontificate, whose annals were 
marked with the usual characters of blood and perse- 
cution, ceased. Mastai was called to the Papal throne 
under the title of Pius the Ninth. The commencement 
of his reign was the prelude of sweet hopes for Italy. 
The name of Pius the Ninth passed from mouth to 
mouth, and was never mentioned save in terms of 
veneration and love. The nations of the earth echoed 
the cry of gratulation, and the tyrants trembled on 
their thrones on seeing the Pontifical throne filled by 



32 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

a man who was said to be a lover of liberty. Italy 
hoped and despots feared. 

Gavazzi shared in the general rejoicings. He 
thought he saw a future dawning for his country : he 
gave himself up to sweet hopes : it was through reli- 
gion at last that liberty should be given to his country. 
It would be that peace and sacred liberty which flows 
from a divine source, and untainted by aught of license 
or corruption. In short, he too for a moment believed 
that it was in a Pope that Italy was to find a saviour 
— a short-sighted and short-lived faith not destined 
to be realized — a monstrous belief, in truth, that 
Popery could lead the way to freedom ! This strange 
delusion seized upon Italy for the first and last time 
with the accession of Pius. 

Gavazzi had lived on terms of familiar intercourse 
with the brothers of the newly-proclaimed Pontiff ; 
and, through their interest, he was speedily released 
from his convent-prison, recalled to Rome, and taken 
into favour. He preached for the first time in the 
Eternal City in the church of Santa Maria degii 
Angioli. It- was the anniversary of the election of 
Pius ; and inspired by the brilliant hope that the day 
of freedom for his country was at hand, his language 
took a lofty tone which kindled a more than wonted 
enthusiasm in the breasts of his hearers. 

It was at this juncture that the conspiracy of 
August broke out in Rome. The tempest com- 
menced in Ferrara, and a horde of lawless ruffians 
spread terror and devastation throughout the coun- 
try. Italy seemed lost — when a Heaven-inspired 
thought of the Pontiff's, whose mind had not yet 
succumbed to the deadly influence of the Vatican, 
saved Rome, saved Italy. He called into existence the 
National Guards, and, as at the word of enchantment, 
thousands upon thousands of men started up in terrible 
attitude, armed for the defence of their country. Fear 
seized upon the foe, and the tempest subsided aa 
suddenly as it had arisen. It was on this occasion of 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 33 

all others, that the weak, wavering character of the 
Pope revealed itself to Gavazzi. He, who had been 
the original champion of the cause of freedom, was to 
be the first to experience the dawning apostasy of the 
papal mind. He preached three sermons of thanks- 
giving, in the Church of St. Andrea delle Frate, to 
God that it had pleased Him in His infinite mercy to 
defeat the ends of the conspirators, and to deliver 
his country. He gave full scope to the thoughts 
which burned within his breast ; with the unsparing 
severity of truth, he laid bare the enormities of the 
past reign of Gregory ; he painted in vivid colours 
the butcheries which had stained that pontificate of 
blood ; he forgot the Pope and condemned the man. 
This was more than sufficient to displease Pius, who 
was only capable of enduring half-truths : rebuke and 
punishment followed, which were borne with meek 
resignation ; for in the sincerity of his heart, Gavazzi 
thought that he had perhaps allowed zeal to outrun 
discretion. He was forbidden to speak, and he re- 
mained silent. Gavazzi always acted loyally and 
honourably ; for, when the students came to him in a 
body, and asked him to address them, Gavazzi, still 
holding his allegiance to the Pope, who had forbidden 
his so doing, he refused to comply with their request. 
The students then repaired to the church, and at the 
very foot of the altar, asked the priest who was cele- 
brating mass, to absolve him from this prohibition. 
This being granted, the students raised Gavazzi in 
their arms and carried him in triumph to the pulpit, 
whence he addressed them with all the eloquence and 
unction of the true Italian priest. As long as he re- 
cognized the authority of the Pope he never volun- 
tarily transgressed it. 

January came ; and in that memorable month a cry 
of horror and indignation was heard to rise through 
universal Italy. The Padua butchery had shown 
what Austria could do. Tyranny and oppression 
had invented a new art for discovering the rebel- 
2" 



34 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

lious spirits and securing fresh victims. This was 
the modern system of provocation. There is some* 
thing truly devilish in the idea of a calculated 
series of petty annoyances, practised with the end 
of exciting the rash and generous spirit of youth, 
until, stung with madness, the victim turns round 
upon the oppressor, and, forgetting the miserable dis- 
tinction of master and slave, strikes a blow for dear 
liberty. The officers and common soldiers emulated 
one another in ingenious devices to exhaust the 
patience of the unhappy Italians. At each meeting 
in the street, some gesture of contempt, some insult- 
ing word signified to the citizen the estimation in 
which he was held. The last of indignities was not 
spared him ; not only was he reviled but spat upon. 
Who cannot foresee the result ? The students of 
Padua rose ; and a day of fierce and desperate strug- 
gling ensued — a day long to be remembered in Italy, 
and which was but the prelude to that mighty shock 
briefly afterwards to be felt throughout the whole 
kingdom. Eoused to desperation, unarmed youths 
threw themselves recklessly upon an armed soldiery ; 
with naked hands they tore the murderous weapons 
from the assassin's grasp ; a fell thirst of vengeance 
inspired beardless boys fearlessly to face the swords, 
gunSj and bayonets of disciplined warriors ; the victim 
disarmed and slew the tyrant with his own weapon ; 
and heroic deeds were performed worthy the sacred 
cause of retributive justice ; but alas ! the contest 
was too unequal. Fresh troops, cavalry, and cannon 
were called out ; an indiscriminate massacre ensued 
— houses were entered ; helpless innocents, dragged 
from their hiding-places, were pitilessly slain, and 
after a few hours of butchery, the Austrians remained 
masters of the bloody day. The insurrection was 
crushed ; but the Germans had been taught a lesson 
which they will not lightly forget : they learned what 
Italian valour, supported by a just cause, can do : 
they learned to fear the roused ire of an oppressed 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. Sfi 

people, and acquired a foretaste of that which was to 
befal them later. 

News of the dreadful scene which had been enacted 
at Padua spread like wildfire through Italy. A yell 
of execration sounded through the land. Fathers 
and mothers trembled for their children ; even those 
who had been the warmest supporters of the Austrian 
government shuddered at the atrocities which had 
been committed, and felt that their sons' lives lay at 
any moment at the mercy of tyrannical caprice. The 
students were at once recalled to their homes, and the 
university was closed. 

Is it a subject then for wonder, that when in other 
cities, under the very eyes of the oppressors, the like 
was done, that in Rome too, where men had now 
tasted a little of the sweet air of liberty, a day should 
be set apart to celebrate the death of those who fell 
at Padua ? 

Shall we wonder that the Roman youth, and more 
especially its student youth, assembled to pray for 
peace to the souls of their murdered brethren — that 
Gavazzi assisted, by his presence, at the pious cere- 
mony in the University Church? Shall we wonder 
that he, the man of note, was invited by universal 
acclaim, to speak the sentiments of all on that memo- 
rable and solemn occasion ? and that he, the man of 
intrepid and generous soul, readily undertook the 
honourable, yet perilous task ? Again we ask, is it a 
matter for wonder that, borne away by his feelings, 
the solemnity of the circumstance, and the enthusiasm 
of his excited auditory, he was unable to restrain the 
tide of impassioned extempore eloquence which rushed 
to his lips, and said things calculated to ofiend the 
sensitive ears of Romish priests and a would-be libe- 
ral Pope? 

But we may be permitted to wonder that some ex- 
cuse could not be found for him in the unprecedented 
nature of the circumstance, the unprepared address, 
the wild cravings which he had to satisfy, the moving 



S6 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

character of his theme ; it is with a justly indignant 
surprise that we learn that none of these extenuating 
circumstances seemed sufficient to cause the Pope to 
lean to the side of mercy, and exchange punishment 
for rebuke, 

Gavazzi was condemned without show of justice : 
lie was sent first to undergo the severe discipline of 
the convent of Polveriera, and shortly transferred 
thence, with an inquisitional mystery, to the Capu- 
chin convent of Genzano. 

A brief elucidation of this mystery will make 
known to the world the real character of Pius IX., a 
character which Gavazzi has ever considered entirely 
wanting in singleness of purpose, and incapable of 
good faith. Prince Gaetani, who was in some degree 
a favorite of the Pope, minister of police, and Gover- 
nor of Eome, and also President of the University, 
went, in company with the too celebrated Padre Ven- 
tura, to Pius IX. ; and in the name of all the youth 
of Rome, asked the liberation of Gavazzi. This was 
in the beginning of February. Gavazzi, while in 
prison, had received various deputations, and more 
than five thousand of the inhabitants of Rome had 
called on him. On the 2d of February, a grand se- 
renade was in preparation, to be ojffered to him, by 
the students of the University, and of the belli arti. 

Pius IX. was aware of the sympathy excited by 
Father Gavazzi, and thought to get rid of the whole 
ajffair by one of those strokes of diplomacy, so often 
employed in ecclesiastical policy. Accordingly, in 
the night of the first and second of February, two of 
his police presented themselves, in the name of Plug 
IX., with express orders to the Cardinal vicar at the 
convent of Polveriera, to transfer his prisoner to the 
convent of Genzano. Accordingly, he was placed in 
a carriage, in which were two more policemen, and 
conveyed to Genzano, which is twenty-five miles from 
Rome. The next day, a deputation of all the stu- 
dents in Rome, presented themselves at the convent 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 87 

of Polveriera, with the intention of carrying him in 
triumph to the College of San Carlo ; but, to their 
great surprise and disappointment, they were told 
that Gavazzi had been taken, by order of the Pope^ 
to another convent. 

Although astonished and indignant, the students, 
still believing in the liberality of the Pope, and still 
willing to believe him guilty of weakness rather than 
deception, the youthful deputation forbore any de- 
monstration of anger. They determined, however, 
to discover the prison to which their friend had been 
transferred. They therefore decided that, two by 
two, they should visit every convent in the city of 
Rome, as well as within thirty miles of its walls. For 
some days their researches were fruitless. At length 
the two who arrived at Genzano, found their beloved 
prisoner. Their companions, summoned by the suc- 
cessful pioneers, soon liberated Gavazzi, and restored 
him triumphantly. 

At this crisis in his career a new epoch commenced 
for Europe — the epoch of revolutions. 

France banished the dynasty of Orleans, and pro- 
claimed the republic. Europe seemed paralyzed by 
the force and suddenness of the blow ; the people 
greeted the opportunity with a wild enthusiasm, and, 
following the example, the torch of liberty was bran- 
dished everywhere, and in a few days central Europe 
became the seat of constitutional government. 

Hope dawned for Italy from a truly unexpected 
quarter. It came from German}^ — ^from Vienna. The 
students of all nations who were assembled there, 
Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Poles, strove to fur- 
ther the great end of the regeneration of nations, 
and to their noble efforts the Austrian revolution is 
mainly due. The dynasty of Hapsburg which had 
resisted the shock of ages, trembled on its throne. 
The emperor, archdukes, princes, and ministers in the 
imperial palace heard with dismay threats of banish- 
ment, imprisonment, and death. In the extremity of 



38 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

their fear they granted everything. Electoral fran- 
chise was promised, and a free constitution decreed 
— Mctternich, fearing for his life, fled in haste — Italy 
soon knew what was passing at Vienna — cockades 
were mounted, the tricolor flags displayed, and the 
Italian banner unfurled — Venice and Lombardy 
drove out the enemy — capitulation on capitulation 
followed. But a few days had elapsed, and the whole 
of Lombardo-Venetia, save Verona and Mantua and 
the dependent fortresses, was free. The Germans 
withdrew in trembling haste to these fortified towns, 
as their sole place of refuge. Here too was Radetzky. 

And. again a cry arose throughout the land — a cry 
of brotherhood and love. Long-cherished hopes and 
desires assumed the garb of certainties, and national 
unity seemed attained. The various states hastened 
to send assistance to Lombardy and Venice, to meet 
the moment when Austria, waking from her surprise, 
should pour her hordes into Italy. Rome was not 
the last to respond to the call which bade each man 
join in the crusade against the eternal foe and oppres- 
sor of his native land. 

The Pope yielded, with ill grace perhaps, to the 
demand of the people, but he was not yet quite a ty- 
rant, and authorized voluntary levies throughout his 
states, whose number, added to the Roman volunteers, 
constituted a force of formidable magnitude. An 
army had arisen as if by magic. A multitude was in 
arms, burning with patriotic fire, and ready to shed 
the last drop of their blood in defence of their hearths 
and homes. 

Gavazzi was one of the first to move in the great 
cause. He was the first man who paraded the streets 
of Rome with the emblematic colours pinned to his 
breast. Mindful, however, of his sacred calling, he 
chose the typical form of the cross,* and often in 

* He still wears the cross in the national colors on his gown when 
he lectures. 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 39 

the thickest of the fray, in days which followed, was 
this cross the sole defence of the man who exposed 
himself fearlessly in the cause of truth. It never 
quitted him from that time forward, and now with a 
pardonable pride he shows it as a tropliy in the land 
of the stranger. 

When the glorious news of the days of Milan 
reached Rome, he preached the crusade of deliver- 
ance — aid to the friends of liberty, aad banishment 
to the common foe. At his stirring appeal, a valor- 
ous youth sprang to arms — none resisted this sove- 
reign persuader of hearts. Students, mechanics, rich 
and poor, the noble and low-born, were banded to- 
gether : nay, even fathers forgot the duties of home 
and family in this hour of their country's need, and 
ere two days had passed the troop of volunteers was 
on its march. 

The arch-dissembler Pius feigned approval of the 
mission and its purpose. The troops were summoned 
to the Vatican ; and there, men, arms and flags re- 
ceived the Papal benediction. A solemn blessing 
was invoked on the great work, and Gavazzi, as 
deemed most worthy of the high office, was nominated 
chaplain in chief. The Pontiff, in a private inter- 
view granted that same evening, empowered Gavazzi 
to act with supreme authority over the other chap- 
lains, gave certain final instructions, and graciously 
accorded to him a special blessing for his new voca- 
tion. Never was better proof afforded of how in- 
compatible are liberty and Popedom than in this in- 
terview. Gavazzi was given to understand that the 
passage of the Po was authorized solely with a view 
to recover for the holy see the district of Polesine. 
Hence it was not for liberty — it was" not to free the 
land from tyranny and oppression — it was for no great 
national and disinterested end that this enterprise was 
blessed with words by the high priest of Eome. A 
petty scrap of territory was to be added to the Papal 
state, a slight accession of temporal power was to bo 



4# LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZL 

gained, and this was motive sulBficient for the most 
imposing and solemn of ceremonials ! If he did not 
approve of the enterprise, why thus authorize it? 
Is there then such a thing as trafficking with a man's 
own conscience? Is it possible that the infallible 
mind can sanction aught whereof it does not feel 
complete conviction? Certain it is that now, when 
the value of uttered words can be adequately weighed, 
the Pope stands convicted of hypocrisy from his own 
mouth. In the private interview which he accorded 
to Gavazzi two days after his arrival in Rome, he 
said, " Speak to me no more of Italy " — at that mo- 
ment these words were interpreted, as arising from 
some potent and hidden cause — some political reason 
which perchance involved interests of importance to 
Italy at large : Pio Nono enjoyed then the blind con- 
fidence of his countrymen. In this confidence Ga- 
vazzi shared ; and in the simplicity of trust he attri- 
buted this expression of sentiment to motives which 
it became him not to penetrate. Subsequent experi- 
ence traced these words too clearly to their true 
source — a complete indifference to the revolutionary 
cause and to the redemption of Italy. 

The chaplain of the volunteers began his march 
through the Roman states. His principles triumphed 
everywhere. He was enabled to employ not only the 
arguments arising from a profound conviction of their 
political truth, but the mighty engine of religion had 
been placed in his hands as well. Each man believed 
that the Pope had blessed the undertaking ; the peo- 
ple, ever greedy of the wonderful, saw a miracle in the 
sudden disappearance of the German from Italian 
lands, and believed that the combination of events 
which tended to the regeneration of their country 
could arise from supernatural causes alone. Power- 
ful then were the arguments which Gavazzi had at 
his command. The cause was just and sacred — it 
was the true cause, and God willed that it shoul.d 
triumph. Nor were illustrations from holy writ 



LIFE OP FATHER GAYAZZI. 41 

wanting. They, the elect, were in the land of bond- 
age, and the hand of the Lord was stretched forth to 
save them. How these potent weapons were em- 
ployed by the apostle of liberty, let those who know 
him judge. Every day he preached the holy crusade, 
and each day saw the devoted legions swell in num- 
ber. Tliey entered Tuscany, and at Perugia a depu- 
tation of the chief citizens came forth to meet them, 
bidding welcome, and craving that the voice of one 
who preached the salvation of their country might 
be heard within their walls. 

Embosomed midst surrounding hills, Perugia 
boasts not of her palaces, her commerce, or long- 
enduring monuments of art. A valiant, hardy race 
dwells here — men whose thoughts are free as the air 
of the mountains which they breathe — men who in 
sacred devotion to their country's cause yield to 
none. They cherish still with fond veneration the 
memory of a bishop, who boldly dared to stem the 
current of Pomish corruption, and who, with a 
courage worthy of better times, cheerfully underwent 
persecution in the cause of truth. It is needless to 
say that here the reception of the volunteers was 
enthusiastic : Gavazzi was treated by them with a 
reverence little short of adoration ; and had he been 
a man of less pure motives, ambitious thoughts might 
well have swelled within his breast and led him 
astray ; but with him, one feeling, the saving of his 
country, swallowed up all personal ends. 

The horses were speedily unharnessed from the 
carriage which bore him, and noble youths dragged 
him in triumph into the town. Before, a troop of 
damsels dressed in white went singing songs of father- 
land, and strewing the paths with flowers, as did the 
Hebrew maidens of old before David. To dwell 
upon this scene of triumph were perhaps to wound 
the feelings of a living man, to whom this homage was 
paid against his will. 

In Italy the feelings are manifested with all the 



42 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZL 

warmth aud poetic passion which characterize the 
natives of a southern clime : no restraint is imposed 
upon the emotions; and where los^e is felt, it is 
shown by demonstrations which, when not traced to 
their true source of sublime exaltation, might seem 
to border on extravagance. , 

His address to the Perugians was heard with a 
wild enthusiasm, and was followed by ample sacrifices 
cheerfully made on the altar of their country. 

Passing onwards in their march they arrived at 
Bologna ; and here Gavazzi found himself placed in 
one of those critical positions which called for all 
the energy which characterizes his nature. 

The Bourbon king gave orders to recall the im- 
portant subsidy of troops which he had sent to aid 
the common cause in Lombardy. A revolutionary 
movement which had suddenly broken out in Naples 
afforded sufficient pretext for summoning back the 
Neapolitan army of 18,000 men strong, which at this 
juncture was posted in Bologna. Here the fatal 
order reached the troops ; and the dreadful alterna- 
tive of disobedience to the king or to their country's 
call was placed before them ! It was an awful mo- 
ment — a solemn pause ensued, in which men's minds 
were direfully agitated by conflicting doubts and 
fears. On the one hand spoke those prejudices 
which had been imbibed with a mother's milk, foster- 
ed in the schools, and matured at a later age in 
priestly colleges. Venerate and obey the king- 
adore thou the fierce monster " who hath the feet of 
a bear, the mouth of a lion, and who is clothed with 
blasphemy and abomination." On the other side 
were ranged inspirations of more recent date — devo- 
tion to the cause of liberty ; a patriotism exalted by 
passing events ; and that deep religious sentiment 
which had been called into existence by the belief 
that the Pope, in blessing their arms, had sanctified 
their mission and ensured to them a certain victory. 
The people then will never see that liberty cannot 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 43 

flow from the Papacy, whose very existence is de- 
pendent upon tja^annical institutions ! 

The moment was indeed one of supreme agony to 
all true patriots ; for the fate of Italy stood trem- 
bling in the balance, awaiting the termination of this 
mental conflict. Did prejudice carry the day, the 
country was for ever lost : and if conviction 
triumphed, her redemption was at hand. 

The scales of the balance were in the hands of the 
officers, to turn which way they pleased ; for the men 
would have blindly obeyed orders. Unfortunately 
the views of the officers were opposed to liberty and 
the new state of things, and they were moreover 
bound by strong ties of personal attachment to the 
king. Severe and cruel to others, the monarch was 
ever kind and gracious, nay even fawning, to the 
soldiers ; it was then that a few generous spirits 
rose up among them, and protested loudly against 
the fatal counsel of abandoning Yenice and Lom- 
bardy as a helpless prey to the gripe of Austria; 
then it was that Father Gavazzi stood forth to reas- 
sure the weak of heart, and employed all he had of 
eloquent persuasion in bidding them resist the fatal 
order of recall. He sought with the thunder of his 
voice to confront the might of the tempest which he 
saw lowering over his beloved land : he saw in the 
return of the army a deathblow to all hope, and he 
would have parried it by the force of simple words. 

Eighteen thousand men hovered in uncertainty — 
eighteen thousand men were to be gained over to 
acknowledge that all should be abandoned for their 
country's sake : for this, they should disobey their 
king, should risk life and substance, and renounce all 
that they held most dear on earth : forgetting the 
lessons of their youth they had now to avow that 
kings were but crowned tyrants, that the image 
before which they had so long bowed down was but 
a senseless idol, and that what they had been taught 



44 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZT. 

to venerate as awful realities were but vain delusions 
and empty phantasms. 

Gavazzi's courage rose with the tremendous exigen- 
cies of the occasion. He threw himself into the midst 
of this armed multitude, to whom he was a stranger. 
His form seemed to dilate, his eyes flashed with unu- 
sual fire, and his mighty voice gathered a wondrous 
strength as he proclaimed, in a strain of passionate 
eloquence, such as sacred zeal alone can inspire, the- 
danger of his country, and implored them to inter- 
pose, avert, and save. The commotion ceased, all 
sounds were hushed, an attentive silence reigned, 
minds began to waver, and it seemed for a moment 
that the day was gained and Italy free. But it was 
written that the time was not yet ripe .: it was written 
that Italy had yet to pass through bitter trials of blood 
and sorrow, of slavery and of infinite misery : it was 
written that another day of servitude and woe should 
Btand inscribed in life's annals (alas ! why is it not 
permitted to blot out the dreary record ?), it was 
written that Italy should not yet be free, because it 
did not yet seem good to infinite Wisdom that tyranny 
should cease. 

The words of Gavazzi fell on heedless ears. A 
murmur of disapprobation arose, first among the 
officers; and a few menacing injunctions whispered to 
the soldiers sealed the fate of the preacher's dis- 
course. Satan had blinded their hearts — falsehood 
took the garb of truth — truth in her naked purity 
was made to assume a hideous semblance, a thing to 
be spurned and execrated ; and the love of country, 
love sacred and divine, seemed to their darkened 
minds an abomination and a curse. The king was 
the true emblem of justice — him should they love and 
adore — he was the hero, the god before whom they 
should bow down — The just man who spoke before 
them was a child of evil, and his words were the 
words of impiety and perdition. 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 45 

To the growing discontent of the soldiers, Gavazzi 
answered by renewed appeals to their patriotism. 
His stentorian voice was long heard above the storm 
of menace which raged around him ; and when at 
length it was overpowered by the hoarse shouts of 
the armed multitude, there burst from him a long, 
loud cry of anguish — the desperate cry of a man who 
sees that the dearest hopes of his soul are utterly lost. 
A few last words fell from the fearless man, but the 
voice of truth was drowned amidst angry cries of 
death. 

He ceased at length, seeing how vain was every 
endeavour to move them from their purpose ; and 
turning his back upon the doomed crowd moved sadly 
and slowly away. He feared not the prospect of 
impending death, since life to him was as naught, if 
by its sacrifice he could have saved his country ; l)ut 
his heart bled within him, as he thought how surely 
the die was cast against the cause of freedom. 

A memorable but mournful instance of patriotic 
devotion here occurred. Colonel Lagalla was one 
of those men to whom all was contained in the words 
*' my country.'' As his love for Italy knew no bounds, 
so did he not hesitate to confront all danger for her 
sake. Flinging himself in the path of the infuriated 
beings Avho were thirsting for the blood of their 
fellow-men, he prayed them, in words of passionate 
and seemingly irresistible entreaty, not to abandon 
their country in this hour of her extreme need. He 
likened them to children towards whom a weeping 
and disconsolate mother stretched her arms, looking 
for deliverance. They needed but to put forth their 
hands to save her from the precipice on whose brink 
she stood — not to save was to slay — inaction was 
death — would they look calmly on, and see her perish 
to whom they owed their life ? All was vain — the 
dreadful image of matricide failed to deter them from 
their fixed and inexorable resolve to return. Mad with 
grief at the spectacle of his country's hopeless ruin, 



46 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

the unfortunate man seized a pistol in each hand, and 
pointing them at his head, fired both at the same 
moment. He fell a stifiened corpse at their feet. 
May God have mercy upon the soul of this misguided 
man, who, in a moment of supreme woe, forgot that 
life was not his to take away ! May he be forgiven 
who laid violent hands upon himself, not knowing 
what he did — in no rebellious spirit against his 
Maker's works, but moved by the desperate hope that 
his lamentable fate might perchance influence those 
perverse men who were deaf to the voice of reason 
and entreaty. The soldiers remained unmoved at the 
terrible spectacle ; passive obedience is the soldier's 
creed, and the march homeward was commenced. 

It was the 5th of May, and the anniversary of Pius' 
election was being celebrated with all pomp at Padua. 
The splendid cathedral was crowded with people lis- 
tening to the words of the officiating bishop, when 
the vanguard of the Roman auxiliaries entered the 
town'. At their head marched a man of elevated 
stature, habited in black, with a cross upon his breast. 
He seemed a second Peter the Hermit, at the bidding 
of whose voice all Europe took arms to reconquer the 
holy land from the infidel. Padua joyfully hailed the 
arrival of such men with such a leader ; the chief 
citizens bade them welcome, and invited them to 
assist at the completion of the ceremony in the cathe- 
dral. Jaded and way-worn they entered the sacred 
edifice ; and Gavazzi, oppressed as he was by the 
fatigue of a toilsome march, found himself compelled 
to yield to the pressing solicitations of all, backed by 
the bishop's ready assent, that he should speak to 
them words of comfort and exhortation. It was a 
noble sight to see this man, with dusty garments and 
form all disordered, ascend the pulpit, and with una- 
bated zeal, with undiminished fire, declare his mission 
and its lofty purpose. This courageous eloquence, 
which seemed to defy all obstacles, inspired the Padu- 
ans with an enthusiasm so great that, forgetful of all 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 47 

discretion, or believing perhaps that such energy 
was inexhaustible, they entreated him not to leave 
their town without addressing them once more. He 
consented to their request, and preached the same 
day in the great piazza at five in the afternoon to a 
mighty concourse. All that Padua contained of 
young and old, of either sex, were there to listen ; 
and none went away without feeling that his rare 
and wondrous eloquence liad more than ever endeared 
their country to their hearts. 

Hence the army marched on to Venice ; and here, 
as everywhere, Gavazzi was the observed of all ob- 
servers. Manin, the president, and his colleagues 
waited on him and asked him to address the people 
in the Piazza San Marco on behalf of the sacred 
cause. 

At the outbreak of the revolution the Venetians 
had shown themselves but lukewarm supporters of 
the cause of independence, but they subsequently 
nobly redeemed themselves from the charge of indiffe- 
rentism ; and by their brave defence of their beloved 
city, patiently enduring all the horrors of war, famine 
and pestilence ere they yielded to an overwhelming 
force, amply deserve the first place among those de- 
voted men who sacrificed all for their country's sake. 
They too received a mighty impulse from the voice of 
the great preacher. 

The Piazza San Marco was the theatre chosen — 
Venetians were the auditors — Gavazzi was the 
preacher. Theatre, auditors and preacher were well 
worthy one of another, and combined to form a spec- 
tacle of rare and engrossing interest. The orator 
and the vast mass of the people who had thronged 
eagerly to listen to him, were standing in a spot 
adorned by glittering palaces, each stone of which 
spoke of those days of long-enduring triumph when 
the Lion of Venice rode the wide seas in proud su- 
premacy : these memories of the past filled the minds 
of all, as they saw the apostle of freedom before them. 



48 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

He, who had already endured toil, persecution and 
privation, who had braved the perils of a long and 
weary march, who had set at naught the enmity of 
potent adversaries which his gifted eloquence had 
raised around him, now stood before them, about to 
speak of liberty and love of country, and, surrounded 
by the eternal records of what had been, he was 
about to show them that which they again might be. 

It is easy to imagine and infer from our knowledge 
of Gavazzi's resources, in what elevated language he 
treated the subject of his every-day thoughts, how he 
revelled and luxuriated in glorious images created by 
the suggestive objects which met his eye on every 
side ; how those who thought with him derived fresh 
argument in support of their convictions, and how 
his opponents when not persuaded were still fascinated 
and almost made to believe against their will. Un- 
fortunately these oratorical treasures coming fresh 
from the mint of the brain can only be valued by 
their after effects, for Gavazzi nearly always spoke 
without note or preparation ; and as thought followed 
thought with wondrous rapidity in his mind, so he 
uttered them without taking heed how they were 
gathered. He threw the seed forth with liberal hand, 
trusting that it would fall on good ground, and bear 
fruit in due season. 

A task worthy of his powers now devolved upon 
him. An appeal was to be made to the inhabitants of 
Venice in behalf of their suffering and indigent coun- 
trymen, and Gavazzi was again the man chosen to be 
the advocate of charity. Again he spoke in the Pi- 
azza San Marco, and he was heard — he prayed for aid, 
and aid was given. From that day commenced a se- 
ries of heroic sacrifices, which almost pass conception ; 
poor and rich, alike without distinction, joined in for- 
warding the good work ; there were none, high or low, 
who gave not something : those who had not money 
gave rings, garments, necklaces or jewels. It was a 
truly touching sight to see the women of Venice strip 



LIFE OP FATHEli GAVAZZI. 49 

themselves thus voluntarily of those ornaments which 
enhanced the charms of a beauty which is proverbial ; 
and, with a smile of noble satisfaction, sacrifice those 
glittering baubles which the sex so highly values, 
prizing them as naught when compared with that gem 
of highest moral worth — cliarity. Some idea may be 
formed of the extent to which these benevolent feel- 
ings were carried, when it becomes known that in 
those times in which distress and want reigned gene- 
rally, upwards of 120,000 francs were collected in one 
single day. 

Meanwhile the German hordes poured down on the 
Venetian territory, and daily the Austrians gained 
ground. Throughout the horrors of the war Gavazzi 
never quitted his men, and in each fierce encounter 
was always to be seen exhorting and encouraging by 
words and fearless exposure of himself, his fellow- 
soldiers. Subsequently too. in the retreat of the Piave 
he aided in the brave defence of Treviso, where the 
besieged demeaned themselves so heroically, as to 
extort admiration even from their enemies. At the 
capitulation they were permitted to march out, not only 
with all the honours of war, but also to take their 
cannon with them. It was thus that the iron Radetzky 
showed, with true soldier-like feeling, the estimation in 
which he held true bravery, even when it came from 
enemies, and so-called rebels. 

In this retreat Gavazzi had to suffer much. He 
could not pass unnoticed amidst the hostile squadrons. 
His lofty stature and frank aspect, the priestly gar- 
ment and the ample cross which covered his breast 
like a cuirass, all marked him out for notice. His wide 
reputation had moreover made him known everywhere. 
It was not likely that an ungenerous enemy would 
miss this opportunity of showing their detestation of 
the cause, when its chief supporter and most ardent 
advocate was in their power. In truth no insult was 
spared either of word or action — they thrust their 
filthy hands in his face, they hustled him like a pick- 
3 



50 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

pocket, adding some ignominious epithet as they pushed 
him from hand to hand ; bayonets and swords were 
pointed at his breast, accompanied by empty threats 
of death. No vile treatment which the vulgarity of a 
hostile mind can devise was omitted ; and things were 
done from which the imagination shrinks, and which 
we will not sully our pages by recording. He bore 
all with a meekness worthy of his calling, restraining 
the rebellious Adam within him by the remembrance 
of the mightier sufferings of that divine Master of 
whom he felt himself to be but an unworthy disciple. 

But he was not alone. Throughout the struggle 
for independence four brothers fought by the side of 
Gavazzi. The same family from which had sprung 
the man of eloquence had also furnished a devoted 
band of brothers to fight and die for their country. 
To them, the men of action, soldiers and brave men, 
the spectacle was most galling. Insults, not to 
avenge which was deemed dishonourable by the sol- 
dier's creed, were offered before their eyes to a be- 
loved object : every emotion which a generous mind 
can feel was roused, and yet must be suppressed : 
with quivering limbs and swelling hearts they were 
compelled to look idly on, knowing too well that any 
mad effort on their part could but have entailed their 
own sacrifice, without availing in aught to protect 
their brother. Could the bitterest enemy have in- 
vented a more refined torture ? 

It should in justice be mentioned that the younger 
officers and soldiers alone were guilty of these inso- 
lent excesses, and that the older among them, if not 
kind, were at least considerate in their treatment of 
Gavazzi. 

The different troops which had been scattered 
abroad after the siege of Treviso met again together 
at Mestre, with the intention of going forward to Ve- 
nice. Here the famous free Italian legion was 
formed ; a body of men who were among the foremost 
in the heroic defence of Venice. Gavazzi did not 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI, 51 

remain long with them. He felt that his mission was 
to continue adding fuel to the fire of patriotism, 
where it seemed to burn but feebly in the hearts of 
his countrymen, and he bent his steps towards Flo- 
rence. In this town he had already been well re- 
ceived ; and now, his past sufferings in the cause 
made his arrival doubly welcome. 

At Florence, yielding to requests often and press- 
ingly urged, he resumed his discourses, endeavouring 
to inculcate on the minds of the people the ends 
which true liberty contemplated — he sought to rouse 
those who were indifferent, to conciliate his oppo- 
nents, to restrain the headlong impetuosity of parti- 
zans, and above all combated, like a true moralist, 
against those patriots who " licence mean when they 
cry liberty." Lofty as were the views which he ad- 
vocated, morally true as were the lessons which he 
taught, he failed not nevertheless to give umbrage to 
a weak and suspicious government, which found suf- 
ficient ground for accusation in the influence obtain- 
ed by his eloquence over the people. He was seized, 
and conveyed across the frontier under the escort of 
a troop of dragoons : on the way he was treated with 
every consideration, and at the bridge of Scaricasino, 
which marks the boundary-line between the Floren- 
tine and Papal states, they left him in the hands of the 
inhabitants, who warmly greeted his arrival among 
them. It was his design to have journeyed on to Bo- 
logna ; but half-way, friends met him with the infor- 
mation that certain arrest and imprisonment awaited 
him, should he set foot within the town, and recom- 
mended further that he should carefully avoid the 
beaten track on his path onwards, since parties of 
soldiers had been posted on all the principal roads 
with orders to capture and bring him back to Bologna. 
Upon receiving this news, he determined to visit one 
of his relations who lived at some distance, in the 
hope of passing a few days with him in that tran- 
quillity and repose of which he stood so much in need. 



52 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

After a journey full of difficulties, dangers, and priva- 
tions, he succeeded in at length reaching the desired 
haven, and found a home under his cousin's humble 
roof. His new resting-place was situate about twenty- 
four miles from Bologna ; and here he received, in 
secret, visits from his friends with whom he held long 
and entertaining converse. 

It was impossible that he should live long here un- 
observed. Information soon reached the authorities 
of his hiding place, and orders were issued for his im- 
mediate arrest. Tidings reached him of the inten- 
tions of his enemies from a truly unexpected quarter. 
It was a cardinal who sent him the timely warning, 
and counselled him to fly. Cardinal Amat, Governor 
of Bologna, was one of those rare men who have 
moral courage sufficient to act in consonance with 
their convictions, in spite of prejudice, place, and the 
fear of offence. Living among men of evil ways, he 
shunned not the straight path. A dependant upon 
despotic institutions, he was not an opponent of 
liberty. He contrived to let Gavazzi know of the 
danger which awaited him ; and, upon receiving a 
grateful letter of thanks from the poor victim of per- 
secution, sent him that pecuniary aid which was in- 
dispensable to enable him to pursue his journey. All 
praise be given to this brave man, who, though car- 
dinal, governor and magistrate at once, feared not 
to incur a triple responsibility when by so doing 
he could protect an innocent man. In examining the 
long list of men who were the willing instruments of 
a pope, who had already shown himself in his true 
papal colours, who were the slaves of the most com- 
plete of all tyrannies, the mind dwells with a grateful 
pleasure upon this solitary instance of freedom and 
courage. It was then possible that even among the 
priestly magnates a man might be found willing to 
admit that personal interests become insignificant 
when compared with the weightier considerations of 
humanity and charity. 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 63 

Gavazzi selected Milan as his next place of refuge ; 
but in this city his Yoice was not heard. The Mila- 
nese were in a strange state of division and per- 
plexity. Some of them were more than half inclined 
to believe in the sincerity of Charles Albert, but none 
had any coniidence in his generals. These were al- 
most without exception men of the old school. They 
had retained the ideas, but no longer possessed 
the valour of their ancestors. They were ignprant 
and faithless, and could not conceive such a miracle 
as the regeneration of a people whose parity with 
themselves they could not be brought to acknowledge. 
Thus it was that on the one hand, doubts gave rise 
to intemperate ebullitions, and on the other hand, 
these very excesses served as so many illustrative 
arguments in favour of the old despotic regime. To 
this schism^ of opinions, added to the utter want of 
experience in the generals, were due the disastrous 
termination of the Lombardy campaign, and the dis- 
graceful capitulation of Milan 

Seeing that this was the condition of parties when 
Gavazzi entered Milan, it would have been worse 
than useless for him to have spoken. He could only 
have increased the irritation of party-feeling, without 
in any way advancing the cause of freedom. No 
entreaty could induce him to depart from his fixed 
resolve, and during the whole of his stay he never 
spoke in public. When Milan capitulated he formed 
one of the large body of emigrants. The number of 
persons who quitted the city was prodigious, and 
•might serve in some sort as a measure of the hatred 
borne by the vanquished to the victors. Here might 
be seen women abandoning all the comforts of home, 
the newly-born infant in their arms ; there old men 
teaching their tottering limbs to carry them far from 
the tyrant's react — the rich leaving their palaces to 
the remorseless pillage of the conqueror ; the streets 
full of men, of women, of old and young, all actuated 
by one and the self-same feeling — all ready to brave 



54 LIFE OP FATHER GAYA2Zh 

the terrors of exile witli its inevitable concomitanta 
of misery, suffering and hunger ; nay, perchance, of 
death, rather than live as the oppressor's slaves. 
Truly a brave people these same Milanese, and deserv- 
ing of a better fate. 

In the society of many of the exiles Gavazzi re- 
paired to Genoa, and here he would have broken his 
long silence, but the face of things had already begun 
to show symptoms of a change. As misfortune fol- 
lowed on misfortune, so did the bitterness of party 
feeling increase. Royalists and republicans over- 
whelmed one another with accusations and recrimi- 
nations. ..Th'fe" truth is, that with the fall of Milan, 
the fate of Italy was decided. Noble efforts were 
doubtless subsequently made, but they were attended 
with no beneficial result. Venice, Genoa, Bologna, 
Leghorn, and Home, served by their brave resistance 
to show how deeply rooted is the love of country in 
Italian hearts, and their courage and devotion to the 
cause of freedom will oause the name of Italian to be 
respected, spite of the cavillings of foes, both by pre- 
sent and future generations. The sacrifices which 
these cities made will not be thrown away in times to 
come, but for the time being they availed not to save 
Italy. 

Let us cast an eye over the rest of the kingdom. 
Piedmont was powerless ; she either could not or 
would not aid the sacred cause. In Naples, the 
Bourbon was triumphant ; and in Sicily the struggle, 
if violent, was also hopeless. An undisciplined mul- 
titude had no chance with soldiers inured to all the 
toils of war ; and even had an advantage been ob- 
tained, as at Rome and Venice, it could only have 
been temporary, for the tyrants of Europe had re- 
solved that Italy should perish, even should it be 
found necessary that republicans must fight against 
the republic to attain this end. 

At Genoa great agitation reigned. As at Milan, 
party feeling ran high, and the democrats brought 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 55 

every engine into play, being conscious that the only 
chance of turning the scale remained with them. 
Gavazzi was invited to address the people, but Gio- 
berti, who was now minister, forbade him to speak. 
Perchance at no other moment was it more important 
that a powerful appeal should be made to men's 
minds ; at no other moment would it have been at- 
tended with more efficacious results, and precisely for 
this reason was silence imposed on Gavazzi. What 
he could not do publicly he strove to do in private. 
He was invited everywhere and requested to explain 
his views, but the Piedmontese system of espionage 
under Gioberti was in no way inferior to the Aus- 
trian ; and spies were commissioned to follow Gavazzi 
continually, thus rendering it dangerous, and useless 
at the same time, for him to speak his sentiments with 
anything like freedom. 

The papal prejudices entertained by Gioberti, and 
the blind pertinacity with which he pursued a certain 
system, rendered him Italy's worst enemy at this 
juncture. 

While this was the state of affairs at Genoa, a fear- 
ful visitation fell upon the Bolognese. Whether the 
result of diabolical instigations on the part of the 
opponents of progress or the consequence of social 
disorganization, it is difficult to say, but the assassin's 
trade was daily plied at Bologna. The secrecy and 
suddenness with which the blow is struck — the know- 
ledge that life is secure at no moment — that neither 
innocence nor guilt are safeguards — that age or sex 
form no protection — inspire even the most courage- 
ous with a dread of assassination as the most terrible 
of all deaths. The husband goes forth in the morning, 
not knowing whether he will be again permitted to 
see his wife ; the father leaves his family, uncertain 
whether he has not clasped his children to his breast 
for the last time. 

It is thus that liberty, when unrestrained by whole- 
Bome checks — when not founded upon virtue and 



56 • LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

morality, and further backed by sound institutions, 
leads to the most fearful excesses and crimes. 

No means which the citizens of Bologna could 
adopt were found competent to rid them of this awful 
scourge, and as a last resource they entreated Gavazzi 
to come among them, and endeayour by the power of 
his eloquence to lay the spirit of blood and slaughter 
which had entered men^s hearts, and which rendered 
their fair city a scene of death and desolation. Ga- 
vazzi at once accepted the perilous task and. quitted 
Genoa, his lofty soul rejoicing in the noble enterprise 
laid before it. 

On his way he passed through Leghorn, and though 
his stay here was of necessity very brief, yet would he 
willingly have spoken a few words to satisfy the 
longings of those who had been among his earliest dis- 
ciples. But the Tuscan government viewed him with 
suspicion. To explain this, and for the better under- 
standing of what follows, a brief digression becomes 
necessary. 

When Milan fell, Florence and Tuscany were di- 
vided into two parties. The government called itself 
liberal, but the ministers, — sincere men enough in 
their way, — belonged to the old school, while the 
Grand Duke, who played the part of a good man, but 
took his cue from the worst counsellors, was nothing 
better than a hypocrite. The defensive attitude as- 
sumed by the Livornese and the democrats of Tus- 
cany was not uncalled-for or unjustifiable, since 
nothing but fair words had as yet been received from 
the government ; and had not the enemy been fully 
occupied with the Hungarian war, a descent upon 
central Italy would have been attended with an easy 
victory over a totally unprotected country. It was 
absolutely necessary that the democratic party of 
Tuscany should bestir themselves, because the favour 
shown by government to the good cause was a mere 
sham. At the outburst of the revolution it had with 
an ill grace granted the levy of a few volunteers who 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 57 

fought bravely at Curtatone. But beyond this, what 
was done ? Where were the arms and ammunition, 
which are necessary for equipping and sending an 
army to fight against the common enemy ? 

Had but the governments applied themselves to the 
great work with single heart and hand, what might 
not Italy now be ? . . . Freed from the wither- 
ing rule of the Teuton, what might she not have 
become ? 

But to return to the subject of this brief memoir. 
Guerrazzi, to whom the sacred watchword of liberty 
served but as a cloak to ambitious designs, had 
already spoken at Florence and Leghorn, and the 
mighty spirit of democracy was slowly wakening from 
its slumber, when it was destined to be thoroughly 
roused by one whose irresistible eloquence, whose 
indomitable courage, had acquired for him an Italian 
renown. — Descending from Liguria, Gavazzi ap- 
peared at Leghorn. The Livornese received the 
apostle of liberty with wild enthusiasm, but scarce 
had he appeared amongst them when it was intimated 
to him that he should depart and carry his turbulent 
spirit elsewhere. But the citizens of Leghorn suffered 
not this shame to fall upon them. It should never 
be said of them that they looked idly on with folded 
hands, while in a free state, the man of liberty was 
persecuted in a manner worthy of despotism. From 
this time forward, the angry spirit of the people 
began to kindle ; loud outcries were heard ; the 
retrogradists (rear-hangers commonly called) began 
to be disquieted, while a weak and impotent sove- 
reign in vain essayed every poor shift which a policy 
of duplicity and tergiversation could suggest. From 
this date forward, the party of Guerrazzi grew in 
force, and widening his hostile influence day by day, 
suffered no check until the hour of triumph came. 
This was the work of Father Gavazzi. Though he 
spoke not, yet to his presence, to the memory of his 
resistless eloquence and to his devotion to the causo 
3* 



58 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

of democracy, was this result dne. His glowing 
words had given form and consistence to the shape- 
less thoughts of the multitude, and, inspired by his 
presence, they passed from words to deed. He stayed 
not, however, to witness the ministerial crisis in Tus- 
cany which had thus been brought about by his 
agency, but sped onwards, as had been his original 
design, to Bologna. 

He entered this devoted city as an angel of peace 
with the olive branch in his hand. Few were the 
words which he spoke, but he fawned not on the mul- 
titude — -he flattered not — threatening denunciations 
of wrath, not of man but of God, fell from his lips. 
He commenced his discourse with this solemn appeal : 
" I stand here, as I think, not in the midst of assas- 
sins, but surrounded by Italians and the citizens of 
Bologna." Few and simple as were these words, 
their effect was electrical. The orator of nature had 
touched the true chord, and responding to the mas- 
ter's hand, harmony reigned in place of discord ; the 
assassin's trade ceased, and the citizens once more 
paced their streets in the tranquil confidence begot 
by neighbourly faith and good-will. Thus was shown 
the mighty moral influence of a man speaking from 
the fulness of a true and generous heart. Gavazzi, 
by a word spoken in season, freed his country from 
treachery and the assassin's knife, and the grateful 
Bolognese displayed towards him a reverence alone 
due to him who seemed sent as a messenger from 
heaven for their safety. 

So closed the month of November ; but already the 
spirit of retrogradism was triumphing in the Roman 
States under the ministry of Rossi and Zucchi. 

The Pope had deserted the cause of liberty. The 
few concessions which he had granted to the Roman 
people weighed upon his conscience like some grave 
crime — he looked upon himself as an apostate, as no 
longer Pope, as the destroyer of the sacred edifice of 
religion. The priesthood, and more especially the 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 59 

Jesuits, had been at work : they well knew their 
man, and so worked upon his feeble mind, that his 
few good deeds appeared to him now as foul sins. He 
had allowed his people to taste the sweets of liberty 
— he had promised that the days of slavery, oppres- 
sion, and blood should pass away, to be replaced by 
the sweet security of law and justice — tyranny should 
no longer exist, but the true rights of the people 
should be recognised. Alas ! he was told that this 
could not be — that his footsteps touched profane 
ground — that he was sinning against Christ and the 
Gospel. The monster of Jesuitism had seized upon 
its prey and held firm hold : The Yicar of Christ, 
the infallible mind, trembled : strange fears seized 
upon him ; demons and all the dreadful creations of 
a weak imagination, perverted by the agency of insi- 
dious counsellors, presented themselves in appalling 
forms before him, and he was led to believe, mourn- 
ing in sackcloth and ashes, that by granting some 
small share of freedom to his fellow-creatures, he had 
offended against the Almighty, and compromised his 
eternal salvation! To such results could supersti- 
tion, working upon a feeble intellect, lead. 

The death-blow was then to be struck at the liberty 
of Rome, but for this an able instrument was needed. 
A man who had been the creature of Louis Philippe, 
who was well versed in the tortuous policy of the 
house of Orleans, and thoroughly skilled in every 
ministerial wile, was chosen. The odious task was 
given to Rossi, with the title of Pope's minister, nor 
could it have been confided to abler hands. The 
result is known to all. Nor is it our intention to 
speak of this man's lamentable fate, or of the stormy 
recriminations which followed thereupon. Another 
traitor, a Judas of a deeper dye, calls for mention in. 
these pages. General Zucchi was a man in whom 
perhaps last of all, Italy might have expected to find 
a betrayer of the sacred cause. He had suffered 
every indignity from Austrian tyranny and persectt* 



60 LIFE OP FATHER GiTAZZI. 

tion ; he had grown grey ia an Austrian prison, and 
was thrust forth in old age to wander where he listed 
beyond the confines of the tyrant's realm. At Milan, 
where men looked upon him as a martyr to the cause 
of liberty, and as yet believed not in his apostacy, he 
was subsequently appointed to the command of the 
civic force. In his capacity as general he rendered 
himself universally odious hy his brutal demeanour 
and tyrannical measures. 

But the cup of his shame was not yet full. The 
hoary Apostate had yet to fill an office which will 
render his name an opprobrium and execration in the 
mouth of every true Italian. When the Pope sided 
with the enemies of his country, when freedom was to 
be suppressed, Zucchi became the ready instrument 
of his master's -designs. Bidden to capture Gavazzi, 
he accepted .the ignoble duty and arrested him at 
Bologna. As Austria had dealt with him in days 
gone by, so dealt he now with the generous Barna- 
bite. po that his thirst for vengeance were satisfied, 
what mattered it to him who was the victim ? To 
make others suffer as he had suffered was now the 
maxim of a man whose mind had been perverted to 
cruelty by the miseries which he had endured in his 
own person. 

At Bologna, Zucchi, who was Rossi's creature, and 
the blind, or perhaps conscious instrument of Jesuiti- 
cal re-action, applied himself to extinguish the spark 
of sacred fire which still glimmered on the altar of 
liberty. He sought to bind liberty to her own altar, 
and, decking out the goddess as a victim in her own 
temple, would have officiated as high priest at the 
impious sacrifice. 

He strove first to sow seeds of jealousy and rivalry 
between the Romans and Bolognese, and had well 
nigh succeeded in effecting a rupture between them, 
when his design was discovered and scouted. Hia 
next attempt was to make the soldiers the blind in- 
Btruments of tyranny ; he sought to gain his end by 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 61 

ruling them with a rod of iron, and when he had made 
of them, as he thought, mere disciplined machines, 
would have directed them against the cause of liberty : 
but here too he was foiled. Lastly, he performed his 
duty as sbirro in ordinary to the Pope, and arrested 
Gavazzi. What crime had Gavazzi committed wor- 
thy of arrest if he had only carried out the Pope's 
original instructions ? Was it his fault if the Pope 
had veered round and had betrayed that cause which 
he had in the first instance embraced ? Did not his 
lofty titular dignity of chief-chaplain to those ponti- 
fical troops who were to shed their blood on liberty's 
behalf, still remain unrevoked ? But what mattered 
all this to Zucchi ? His master asked for Gavazzi, 
and he obeyed orders by sending him under a strong 
escort to be delivered into his hands. Gavazzi was 
dispatched, attended like a common malefactor, to 
Corneto. The dungeons of Corneto were his desti- 
nation. And for what crime was he imprisoned ? 
He executed the mission entrusted to him by the Pope 
himself like a true patriot. What was his crime ? 
He had set at naught fatigues, dangers, and death 
itself, to proclaim the truth of liberty — of that sacred 
liberty which is to be found in the enjoyment of so- 
cial and private rights, untainted by all strife — an 
enjoyment which is attainable only by the paths of . 
virtue. Where lay his fault? He had ever been 
foremost in the ranks when danger was to be met— 
he fought not, but he counselled, — he was not the 
man of blood, but the servant of Christ — his ofi&ce it 
was, to exalt the warrior by the might of words, to 
bear consolation to the dying, and to teach them to 
embrace death, blessing their country, praising God, 
and forgiving their enemies. These were the crimes 
of Father Gavazzi, and for these was he doomed to 
imprisonment by the Roman Court. 

His prison was a den of infamy. His companions 
were adulterers, poisoners, assassinf^, and the very 
scum of the priesthood. Of priests, but two kiDda 



62 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

are imprisoned — either men who have violated every 
sacred function of the garb they wear, or men who 
have too faithfully preserved their trust. 

In the dungeons of Corneto, then, was Gavazzi to 
have atoned for all his brilliant actions by foul usage, 
hunger, chains, stripes, and every torture which Rome, 
proverbial for her cruelty, could make him suffer. 
These were the rewards which a malicious priesthood 
destined for a man who refused to recognise as God's 
works those impious laws which ratify avarice, re- 
venge, and" murder. 

If it had not otherwise been willed by the Most 
High, Gavazzi would at this moment be lying in a 
loathsome dungeon — his name would have been added 
to the long list of victims immolated to the merciless 
bigotry of Eome. Another martyr to the cause of 
truth would have passed a life of miserable torture in 
the dark cells of some Roman convent, forgotten and 
unknown. 

But Gavazzi was reserved for better things. The 
Lord spared his servant that he might unveil the ini- 
quities of his persecutors. He w^as spared that he 
might, in the free lands of England and America, 
proclaim the faithlessness of the Pope to those who 
listen -with too willing an ear to the seductions of 
Rome. 

As he passed through Viterbo the people flocked 
round the prisoner. What had he done ? asked they. 
What was the crime for which he was about to be 
punished ? Had he violated any law — committed any 
crime ? No. Why then was he led off under armed 
escort ? The cry that he was a martyr to the cause 
of liberty flew from mouth to mouth, and in a mo- 
ment the troops were surrounded and overpowered, 
and Gavazzi torn from their grasp. This bold resist- 
ance of a generous people to an act of sheer tyranny- 
alarmed the Papal -government. The times were cri- 
tical ; and this spark, if not speedily extinguished, 
might kindle a vast conflagration. These considera- 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. * 63 

tions seemed of sufficient political importance to war- 
rant an order for Gavazzi's immediate release. It 
would be safer perhaps at some future time to carry- 
out their revengeful plans ; but the danger for the 
moment was too great. Whatever may have .been 
the hidden intentions with regard to Gavazzi's future 
fate, they have been foiled by his subsequent depar- 
ture into a country where tyranny is unknown. 

Although he had thus been made free by the impe- 
rious voice of public will, it was nevertheless impossi- 
ble for him to complete his labours in the Roman 
states. He could not openly oppose the reactionary 
proceedings of the government. Zucchi and Rossi 
had laid too many toils and snares to entrap the par- 
tisan of liberty ; and every attempt to renew his 
work would have been attended with great danger to 
himself, and with no benefit to the cause. The orders 
for his arrest, moreover, though revoked in a moment 
of fear, were not for this reason annulled. The wolf 
watched but for the sleep of the shepherd and dogs 
ere he pounced upon his prey. 

It became a matter of necessity to quit the Roman 
states with all possible speed, and seek some other 
sphere wherein he might prove useful to his country. 
Venice seemed for many reasons the best place for 
him. There he could strengthen and encourage those 
brave patriots who had resolved to defend their city 
with the last .drop of their blood ; he could prepare 
them to endure those sufferings which were already 
beginning to be felt, and which mounted, in the after 
horrors of a strict blockade, to a pitch of incredible 
severity. While Venice held out, the cause of liberty 
could not be said to be utterly lost ; Venice was the 
Palladium of Italian freedom, and so long as Hungary 
continued successfully to resist Austria, divert her 
troops from Italy, and embarrass her finances, all 
hope was not lost that Austria might fall and Italy 
rise. 

These reasons determined Ga\ azzi, and he repaired 



64 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

to Venice, where he thought he saw a large field open 
to his zealous labours. 

But Fate often wills that men should meet with 
unforeseen and insuperable obstacles in a career of 
glory. It often happens that nobility of mind is un- 
appreciated, that the purest motives are misconstrued 
and vilified, and that where a virtuous man fails to 
make his way, the intriguer and adventurer creeps 
in without difi&culty. This is more especially the 
case in a revolutionary state of society, where events 
follow one another with such wonderful rapidity as to 
set judgment completely at fault. Intrigue and sem- 
blance too often triumph over merit and reality. To 
this misapprehension of men and things, is mainly 
due the failure of our revolution, and of this truth, 
our misfortunes afibrd us an illustration and a lesson 
at the same time. 

We would not wish here to cast any unmerited 
imputation upon the character of Manin. If he 
erred in his selection of men ; if those who adminis- 
tered the public afi'airs under him were not eminently 
fitted for the office to which he had appointed them ; 
this fault of judgment in no way detracts from his 
character as a true-hearted patriot and a man of in- 
corruptible integrity. We have only to say that as 
he was deceived in the merits of others, so was he 
also deceived with regard to Gavazzi. 

This man, the constant aim of whpse discourses 
had been to deprecate excess of every kind, to preach 
unity and fellowship, to warn men against the evils of 
dissension, and who had striven to establish true ideas 
concerning liberty — showing that it was only by re- 
specting the rights of others that individual rights 
could be assured — this man — Gavazzi — the truest of 
patriots, was accused before Manin as the entertainer 
and advocate of the ideas of communism ! 

False and monstrous as was this accusation, it suc- 
ceeded in its intent. Manin believed it, and fearing 
the fatal influence o^ such doctrines upon the minds 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 65 

of the Yenetians, gave orders that Gavazzi should be 
straightway removed from Yenice. We can only 
blame Manin for precipitancy of judgment, since if 
the accusation were true, it was impossible for him to 
have acted otherwise. 

Repulsed by the malice of his enemies from Yenice, 
but in no way disheartened, the indefatigable Gavazzi 
looked around him to find a fresh field for his exer- 
tions. He found it at Rome, where a new hope had 
sprung up for Italy. 

A new day had dawned upon the eternal city — a 
day as unexpected as it was memorable. The priest- 
king left Rome of his own free-will. He was not 
banished ; he was not driven out perforce ; but when he 
found the mask which he had hitherto worn insuflS- 
cient any longer to conceal the hypocrite, and saw 
that all efi'orts to win back those concessions which 
had been wrested from him in the days of his pseudo- 
liberalism were vain, he fled in trembling haste, aban- 
doning his capital and a people whom he had basely 
betrayed. 

A new day had dawned for Rome. The crowned 
Levite had taken flight, and as though this had been 
the signal for the expression of sentiments long-sup- 
pressed, or which had been blighted by the withering 
influence of Papal tyranny, the Roman people arose 
and with one cry proclaimed the republic. They had 
long borne the crushing yoke of Papal dominion, and 
had been semi-brutalized by the policy of supersti- 
tious rulers ; but now it seemed that the spirits of the 
great heroes who lay entombed within their walls had 
risen among them, bade them fling aside their chains, 
and urged them on to deeds worthy the days when 
the names of Rome and liberty were one. 

Scarcely however had the sun of freedom shed its 
first warming rays upon a people newly awakened to 
a sense of their rights, when France interposed with 
jealous arm, and siding with Austria, took arms 
against a sister republic. This deed will ever remain 



66 LIFJiJ OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

a foul stain on the page of French history. Rome 
had arisen to do battle with her eternal foe — with him 
who holdeth adulterous communion with kings — with 
the tyrant who had prostituted her to a despot's will 
— with him who impiously arrogates to himself the 
title of Yicar of Christ — and France it was, who, 
with the cry of liberty in her mouth, stood forth as 
the champion of tyranny. Frenchmen they were, 
who beleaguered Rome, and suffered many a shameful 
check from Roman valour ere superior numbers gave 
them at length a victory more disgraceful than defeat. 
It is indeed a question whether France be not the 
worst enemy tliat Italy ever had : for while other na- 
tions were moved by a love of conquest or lust of do- 
minion in invading our country, she found in jealousy 
of glory and a mere meddlesome spirit of interference, 
motives sufficient to justify her in opposing our patri- 
otic endeavours to throw off the oppressor's yoke. 

The descendants of Brutus and their ancient enemy, 
the Gaul, were again brought face to face in hostile 
encounter, and in the days of slaughter which followed 
none displayed greater valour and devotion in their 
country's defence than Gavazzi. With some few 
generous spirits like himself, among whom the name 
of Ugo Bassi deserves a prominent mention, he dedi- 
cated all his powers to temper and direct the wild 
courage which burnt with too fierce a flame within 
those patriotic breasts, and sought, by Christian ad- 
monitions gently urged, to teach that mercy and true 
valour went ever hand in hand. But it was not 
thus only that his voice was employed. It sounded 
loudly in the hour of danger. On the city walls, 
where the sole rampart was of living men, Gavazzi 
might be seen fearlessly exposing himself to the 
thunder of the enemy's cannon, and, foremost in the 
ranks of death, might be heard cheering others on in 
a voice that rose like a trumpet call amid the hideous 
din of battle. With a cross in his hand and the 
word of Scripture in his mouth, the man who struck 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 67 

no blow himself imparted courage, life, and hope to 
those who fought like true patriots against the com- 
mon enemy. Danger seemed to be his element, when, 
by incurring it, he could in aught protect the sacred 
cause, and often in moments of critical peril his loud 
cry, uttered in the extremity of anguish, " Save or die 
for fatherland ! " turned the fortune of the day. Now 
again he might be seen by the side of some wounded 
sufFerer pouring words of balm into his ear. The 
warlike cry was exchanged for soft tones of solace as 
he solemnly blessed the dying soldier and bade him 
hope for those eternal rewards (impiously declared to 
be forfeited) which the just man who falls fightino- 
for his country shall surely inherit. ^ 

Gavazzi was everywhere— he was with and for all 
men. Under his auspices a hospital had been formed 
where noble Roman matrons played the part of 
nurses, esteeming an office which enabled them to 
tend those who bled in their country's cause, an 
honour and a privilege worthy of their noble station. 
Often might Gavazzi be seen to enter the wards, 
bearing on his stout shoulders some wounded comrade 
whom he had snatched from the thickest of the fight : 
he carried them, if living, where succour might be 
found, or, if past human aid, he paid the last honours 
to the dead. Nor were they his comrades and country- 
men alone who received his pious care, but the 
Frenchmen had often to bless him who, forgetting all 
distinction of persons in the exercise of his holy call- 
ing, administered the last consolations to a dying foe. 
And may we not here claim a large meed of praise 
for one, who, though a priest, demeaned himself so 
valorously? May we not pay a tribute larger than 
common to a man who, brought up by teachers whose 
oft-inculcated lessons of evangelical meekness send 
their priestly scholars into the world for the most 
part a timorous, weak, and effeminate race, still found 
courage sufficient in his own heart to do deeds which 
may well be caUed heroic ? 



63 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

Kome at length fell; nor can her fall be deemed in 
glorious. Weakened by a desperate resistance of 
several weeks, with her walls in ruins, breached every- 
where by the French artillery, she yielded, seeing 
that valour, however great, must finally give way to 
superior force. She met her fall as a brave man meets 
death, without uttering a cry ; but in the hearts of 
her children remembrances are treasured up which 
will not fade until a day of just and terrible retribu- 
tion comes. 1 ri 1 mi_ 

Rome was again in the hands of the Gaul, ihe 
floor of her senate house again echoed beneath the 
armed tread of a barbarian conqueror, and again the 
brave senators, who had been chosen by the people's 
voice to represent Rome on that day, received this 
new Brennus, seated and in solemn silence. Well 
might a blush of shame redden the cheek of the 
hired captain when he saw this solemn spectacle 
of ancient days renewed in our own, and felt how 
ignoble was the part assigned to him. Thus were 
our fetters riveted anew by France, who frayed the 
bloody path by which a weak and pious Pope 
marched over the murdered bodies of his subjects to 
assume a temporal power forbidden by Christ and 
the Gospel. 

He, who impiously arrogates to himself the title 
of Christ's vicar that, by virtue of his assumed in- 
fallibility, he may daily violate the sacred precepts 
of the Gospel, considered all means justifiable which 
would enable him to pursue a career of blood, ven- 
geance, and arbitrary power unchecked. 

But what man is that who slowly paces through 
the streets of conquered Rome in sad and earnest 
attitude? His black dress, the mournful* gait, the 
fixed and downcast gaze, all show one by whom woe's 
last extremity is felt, and for whom hope's last 
chord has been unstrung. He wanders like a spirit 
around the tomb of murdered liberty, and the dark 
apparition is viewed with love and veneration by 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 69 

Roman eyes, while awe and hatred fill the victor's 
mind. 

It is Gavazzi's form which thus stands out in living 
reproof of the perfidy and tyranny of France. It 
seemed to him that he could not abandon the city of 
desolation. He was willing to confront all dangers, 
to abide all consequences, so that by his presence he 
might ever offend and reprove the oppressors of his 
native land. But friends surround him— they spare 
no entreaty — they pray him to seek some repose from 
toil, to seek some haven of safety from the dangers 
which thicken around him : and though at first Ga- 
vazzi turned a deaf ear to their solicitations, he suffered 
himself at length to be overruled. Having learnt 
that the Popish gendarmes were watching only for a 
favourable moment to arrest him and deliver him 
into the hands of his bitterest foe, he hesitated no 
longer ; and, taking advantage of a passport granted 
by the American consul, Mr. Freeman, tlie painter, 
who also lodged him in his own house, left Italy for 
Britain. 

England, the home of so many of his oppressed 
countrymen, became also the chosen retreat of Ga- 
vazzi ; and here at least he was safe from the persecu- 
tions of his foes, though sufferings of another class 
awaited him. Those scanty resources which he might 
perhaps still have commanded in his native country 
failed him here. He had not only exposed life, but 
he had likewise sacrificed the means of livelihood to 
the furtherance of that great end which seemed to 
him paramount above all personal considerations. To 
his family, impoverished most probably, as are so many 
others who joined in the patriotic struggle, he could not 
look for aid, and thus the man who had been accus- 
tomed to the love, respect, and consideration of all 
who knew him, and who, if he willingly set aside all 
comforts when duty demanded the sacrifice, had them 
at least always at his command, found himself sud- 
denly reduced to indigence, and encompassed by all 



70 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

ite numberless ills which beset poverty. None knew 
him in England, nor was any one acquainted with 
his eventful history, the bare recital of which, would 
have claimed for him respectful sympathy and atten- 
tion. It will not then excite surprise in the minds 
of our readers when they learn that the poor, perse- 
cuted wanderer had often to endure the terrible 
pangs of hunger. Nor is he the only one of our 
meritorious countrymen who has made forced ac- 
quaintance with the gaunt fiend ; but poverty, rags, 
and starvation avail not to bow down the proud spirit 
of those who are supported by the thought that they 
suffer in their country's cause. 

Gavazzi bore all without repining. Perhaps Pro- 
vidence wished further to try this brave man ere he 
was permitted to enter upon his appointed mission in 
England and America. 

How nobly he has fulfilled, and is fulfilling that 
mission, we leave to the judgment of those who have 
heard him direct the thunders of his eloquence 
against the corruptions of the Romish Church — who 
have seen him strip the Babylonian harlot of those 
fictitious charms which have led but too many easy 
spirits astray from the true path. AVe leave the 
whole Protestant world to judge of the merits and 
potency of this foe who has risen up among them to 
do battle with the monster, Papacy. 

If the reception of Father Gavazzi in England, 
was cordial, in America it was enthusiastic. His 
arrival, on the steamer of the 20th March, was chro- 
nicled in the morning journals, as one of the impor- 
tant events of the day. His movements in England 
had been closely watched by the entire Protestant 
world in the United States — where, according to a 
journalist of strong Catholic proclivities, the great 
mass of the population arc " inveteratcly Protes- 
tant." Being thus already somewhat familiar with 
his career and purposes, the natural excitability of 
our people was strongly aroused by the presence of 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 7;! 

the hero-priest among us. Fortunately for that 
lirst impression," upon which the sTlccess of every 
public character in this country so greatly depends 
the personal appearance of Father Gavazzi was as 
impressive and attractive, as his life had been roman- 
tic. 1 all, well made and well developed, the person 
ot (javazzi, with its graceful yet impetuous move- 
ments, seemed the very symbol of sincerity and 
power ; while his face, beaming with earnestness and 
intelligence, his eyes flashing the fire of genuine elo- 
quence, sent conviction to the hearts of the listeners 
and gradually worked up a public excitement, deep 
^d universal. Immediately upon his arrival in. New 
York, measures were taken to give him a public re- 
So?*'^i'^r'^'?^ *^^^^ P^'^ce at the Tabernaclo, on the 
^od ot March. The house was densely crowded by 
a most enthusiastic audience, whose interest conti- 
nued till a late hour without abatement. Mr. W 
VV . Chester occupied the chair, supported by Rev. 
Dr. Cox, Rev. Dr. Cheever, Rev. Dr. Dowling, Rev. 
Ur Kennedy, and several other eminent citizens. In 
calling the meeting to order, at 8 o'clock, the Chair- 
man remarked that in a community like oars, no sub- 
ject could be more interesting than that of L^bertv 
VVe have learned its history, and obtained its nume-' 
rous blessings, and therefore feel interested in its 
extension to other lands. In Italy, he remarked it 
would, at one time, have emancipated those down- 
trodden people -had it not been for its bellioerent 
enemy. Despotism. But then, might triumphed over 
right. i\ow however, the times seem about to 
Change. Public opinion is now more powerful than 
WeT' ^^""^'^ ^^ despotism appear to be num- 

After prayer had been ofifered by the Rev Dr 
DowLiXG, the Rev. Dr. Cheever came forward and 
said that he held in his hand a paper from Rev. Dr 
ii-atton, who expected to have been present at the 
meeting, but who- was prevented by a severe cold 



72 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

The paper wliich he read was a brief statement of 
some of the principal events in the life of Father 
Gavazzi. He (Gavazzi) was the second son of a 
family of twenty children, and became a monk at the 
early age of sixteen. When but twenty years of age, 
he filled the chair of rhetoric and belles-lettres in a 
college at Naples. Soon after this he was ordained 
preacher, and removed to Leghorn. From here he 
went to Piedmont, where his peculiarly earnest and 
eloquent style of preaching attracted to him immense 
numbers of hearers. Here he incurred the jealousy 
of the Jesuits, and being obliged to leave the place, 
went^ to Parma, where he continued to preach with 
eminent success, speaking frequently as many as ten 
times a day. About this time, his liberal views hav- 
ing attracted the attention of Pope Gregory XVI., 
and somewhat aroused the attention of this pontiff, 
he was imprisoned, and allowed to preach only to 
the prisoners, of whom there were a large number 
confined. Being finally released, he went to Rome, 
where he commenced preaching again. While here, 
a day was set apart by some of the citizens for the 
purpose of celebrating and commemorating the 
memory of those who fell at Padua. Father Gavazzi 
here turned out and joined this party. For this 
cause, and for his liberal manner of preaching, he 
was imprisoned. Being at last released, he was the 
first to move in the great cause of Freedom, which 
was at that time waking up. He was the first man 
who paraded in the streets of Rome with the emble- 
matic colors upon his breast. He carried the cross, 
which was his sole defence, and exposed himself fear- 
lessly in the cause of truth. He preached the cru- 
sade of freedom to all men. He did much toward 
combining the forces of Italy against the Austrian 
armies. When the French army entered Rome, he 
was a proscribed man ; but under the protection of 
the American flag, he was got away from Rome, ge- 
nerous hearts welcomed him in England, and from 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 73 

there he has now come to our shores. He is now 
biding his time. He is ready to return again to 
Italy as soon as it is advisable for him to do so, and 
to go to preaching again to his countrymen. 

Dr. Cheever also read a letter from the Rev. Dr. 
Urwick, of Dublin, expressive of his high regard for 
Father Gavazzi's character, and recommending him 
to the generous hospitality of our countrymen. 

The Rev. Dr. Cox was then introduced to the 
audience, and proceeded to speak as follows : 

" This meeting, my respected hearers, we may view 
as belonging to the apostolic succession of Metro- 
politan Hall. Some of you may remember that I 
was choked off on that occasion ; and I am very 
much afraid that I shall be squeezed to nothing this 
evening, between two mountains — the Rev. Dr. 
Cheever, of New York, and Father Gavazzi, of Italy; 
and although belonging to the 'village' of Brooklyn, 
I do not intend to be made a particular piece of 
jelly to-night between them. It is a fact, my re- 
spected friends, that this meeting is not a mere pro- 
duct of that society, one of whose secretaries is with us. 
I consider it much more generic and oecumenical than 
Trent. And I am very glad that the proceedings of 
our meeting this evening will be heard from not only 
throughout our own land, but in the Old World also. 
I do not love agitation for the sake of agitation ; but 
I love it for the sake of the ulterior good ; even as in 
warm summer-time, I love the wind and the rain, 
which are necessary to make the atmosphere salubri- 
ous and breathable. Secondly, when the trump of 
Luther woke the people of Europe, had it not been 
for agitation, those grand results would not have been 
achieved which make us all Freemen and Protestants 
in this Tabernacle to-night. [Applause.] The prin- 
ciples involved in our movement here to-night, arc 
so great, and so full of hope to unborn generations 
on this Continent and in Europe, and the results are 
Bo closely connected with the harps of Heaven, and 
4 



T4 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

the anthems of eternity, that I can hardly gc6 any 
one man in this great assembly, — I can rather see the 
great God in it ! although I would not derogate from 
the character of our illustrious guest, whom we are 
soon to hear. 

" The meeting at Metropolitan Hall was called 
with great propriety in behalf of Religious Liberty. 
That was enough to make the whole country come 
together on such an occasion — even if the Madiais, 
incarcerated in Florence, had hot been the theme of 
the occasion. Did we sympathise the less with them 
because we were doing battle for principles ? We 
were not ignorant that these victims were nothing 
but specimens of a large class — there being a great 
many others of the same kind in Europe. It is thia 
sympathy that has made Italy's history connected 
with bloodshed, and identified the Seven Hills as the 
locale. We are in a country, where I trust every 
man may take for his motto 



" ^Freedom and my JYative LandJ 

" I have not yet learned that it is a sin to have 
been born in any particular locality : and I welcome 
even my friend ' John,' who feels so deeply ag- 
grieved at the interest which I take in the welfare 
of those sons of the Emerald Isle — whose native 
land I have visited with delight, and which, if it had 
the advantages, would produce some of the greatest 
specimens of noble manhood in the world. 

" There are two passages of Scripture which I 
have always loved to put together : ' Let all things 
be done decently and in order,' and, * Where the 
spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty.' This does 
not mean any splendid exhibitions of the auto da fe. 
No ; nothing of the kind. A wise man loves liberty 
as the means to an ulterior end — a means of his sal- 
vation and eternal good. Our friend has met a great 



X 



LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 75 

change in travelling across the Atlantic ; but how 
much greater the moral change when he breathes the 
free air of America ! [Applause.] Under the expand- 
ing pinions of our national eagle, and where the 
dove of the Church hovers peacefully above us ! 

""Tis Liberty that gives the flower of fleeting life its lustre and 

perfume, 
And \re are weeds without it.' 

Do you ask me then why 1 love Liberty ? I answer 
as an American patriot, in this country of my ances- 
tors graves— but more especiallv as a Christian— I 
love liberty for the sake of Christ and the hopes of 
salvation. For I cannot tell how, under the domi- 
nion of the Man of Sin, I could find the means of 
seeking an interest in Christ and his Covenant.'' 

After a few more remarks, the Dr. closed by saying 
to Father Gavazzi : Welcome to the United States 
of America ! [Applause.] . He then continued, (to 
the audience,) " I wish to stand aside, and let those 
nascent echoes speak to you for themselves. I wish 
to assure you that these are but the first fruits of the 
harvest of America and of the Antipodes for the 
good of Heaven, of this land, and the human race. 
^Mankind must be free !" 

Father Gavazzi then came forward, amid the most 
enthusiastic and prolonged applause, the entire audi- 
ence rising and waving their hats and handkerchiefs, 
and cheering with the greatest vehemence possible. 
Quiet being at last restored, Father Gavazzi, who is 
a tall, well-proportioned specimen of the old Roman 
orator, with a keen, piercing eye, and an intellectual 
head, commenced to speak in very eloquent English 
as follows : 

" In my first appearance before you, I have all dis- 
advantages ; because, generally speaking, I deliver 
my lectures in Italian— and in America, also, I shall 
also speak in my own language in my lectures. J 
cannot lecture in the English language, because I do 



76 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

KQt know it well enough ; and therefore it would be 
a presumption in me to come over here and attempt 
to lecture in that language. I hope you will support 
me in my broken English as I attempt to address you 
this evening. 

" I was for a long time, a •Papist ; but, under the 
blessing of God, and preaching against the temporal 
power of the Pope, I was persuaded to abandon and 
disclaim all temporal and spiritual power of any 
earthly Pontiff or Potentate ; and resolved that we 
would have no more Popes in Italy. And I presume 
I should now be in the same situation with many of 
my copatriots, shut up in prison, or a dungeon, if I 
could be found by the Papal police. But God is 
good. And I found an asylum in the house of the 
Vice- Consul of America ; and I am very glad in my 
first appearance before you, to give my testimony to 
my friend the American Vice-Consul^namely, Mr. 
Freeman. He took me in his house, and for three 
days and three nights fed me, and provided me with 
an American passport, and took all care to have all 
signatures furnished, in order to facilitate my escape 
-V from Rome. And now, I will use my religious liberty 
j for the good of my fellow-countrymen. My nation 
I now is consecrated, to my eyes, to Liberty. I shall 
/ use my liberty for the good of all slaves of Popery 
in this country and everywhere. The Irishman I do 
not fear. I was in Ireland to preach to them ; I will 
preach to them here, in order to give liberty to those 
people who are ^o full of generous sympathies, but 
who are the unfortunate slaves of the Priests, the 
Prelates, the Archbishops and the Cardinals, who 
live upon the plunder and the misery of their flocks. 
But now, my friends^, when I was in London preach- 
ing against the temporal power of the Pope, and all 
Popish heresies, I became a seceder. In America, 
perhaps some civil Protestant may say, ' they have 
not confidence in a man who will not avow himsell" 
a Protestant.' I am no Protestant, because I respect 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 77 

all Christian and Evangelical Churclies ; and if I 
am an Episcopalian, I might give offence to the Me- 
thodists, and so of other denominations. Therefore 
I am no Protestant. ' But,' some one may say, ' what 
are you, then ?' I am a Christian ! [Great applause.] 
But some may object, all infidels call themselves 
Christians. Very well ; I am not only a Christian, 
but I am a Roman Catholic ! Yes ? Well, all Papists 
call themselves Roman Catholics. Do they ? Yery 
well. Do they call themselves so rightly or wrongly ? 
The Roman Catholic Papists are not Roman Catho- 
lics at all. The Roman Catholic Church is not the 
Popish Church at all. The Roman Catholic Church 
was established by the Apostle Paul, and not by these 
Popes. It is the most ancient church, perhaps, in 
Europe. Rome had no Pope and no Popery. I am 
proud to be an Italian ; and as such, disdain all Pro- 
testant domination. As an Italian Crusader, I preach 
it in Italy ; but as a Christian preacher, I promote 
the religious freedom of Italy. As an independent 
Christian, my mission is against Popery and Catho- 
licism. I am no Protestant, because Protestantism 
is too little for me. In the sixteenth century Luther 
and Calvin preached against Popery. Yery well. 
It might do well in the sixteenth century, but not 
now. To protest is also of but very little use, when 
Hungary lost her liberties in protesting against 
Russian invasion. My army protested against the 
Austrians ; but with no success. Therefore, for me 
to protest against Popery is too little for me. No ! 
no ! Popery cannot be reformed. Because the Pope 
himself is against abuse in this country. Therefore, 
I go by myself, and not protest at all. Destruction 
to Popery ! No Protestantism, no protestations. 
Nothing but annihilation ! Therefore, I do not call 
myself a Protestant ; I am a Destroyer. I hope I 
have explained my idea. 
After some further remarks, the speaker continued ; 



78 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

" The Popish religion is the personificaticn of the Mo- 
narchical Government. In your country, this large 
Irish emigration is intended to overthrow your Ame- 
rican freedom. [Applause.] Obedience without dis- 
cussion — slavery without appeal — these are the edicts 
of Popery. [Applause.] Are you Papists who dis- 
claim against my appearance here in this country ? 
The Popish system sends missionaries to all parts of 
the world. And will they accuse me of trying to 
disturb you ? Disturb what ! Disturb a dull lethargy 
and indifference. 

" I came here to excite the Americans for war, in 
order that they may have peace. [Applause.] I 
came here to make war, not against individuals, but 
against the system. That system of Popery, which is 
bad, bad enough everywhere, as the streets of JYew 
York. I am independent, and therefore say your 
streets are very bad. In dry weather they are 
enough to blind people, and in wet, for mud. So 
with the Popish system ; it is bad in theory and bad 
in practice. Popery is only ancient Paganism 
Christianized. 

*' I have my war against the Roman Catholic priests 
and bishops — against those Jesuits who have ruined 
Europe, and will yet ruin America, if care be not 
taken. This is my mission. Do you feel for my 
safety ? Do not so, for I fear not myself. Do you 
say you have a large priesthood ? I met a large ^ 
priesthood in Rome. Have you a large number of 
Irish Jesuits here also? I met large numbers of 
Irish in Ireland, and I do not fear any of them. 

" I am here to enlighten my Italian brethren, and to 
release them from the tyranny of Popery. I was in 
England exciting the sympathy of the people in be- 
half of my Italian cause. I am here, also, for this 
object among others. I do not ask Amerira to go to 
war with Italy. — No ! no ! the blessing ol God, and 
the iron arm of the American people wiU ^ -^t make 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 79 

ray country free. It is your sympathy which I ask — 
your moral support — your Republican opinion and 
influence in favor of a just and right cause. 

" This is what I ask from the American people, and 
under the blessing of God I expect to be answered in 
your free hearts in behalf of my oppressed country. 
I am here to free my country from the false impo"=«- 
tures and horrible abuses of the Roman Cutholic in- 
fluence. I am here a soldier for the sake of my 
beloved countrymen.' I am in America, finally, to 
revive my Italy, and to liberate her from the oppres- 
sion of the Austrian despotism." 

At the close of the reverend Father's remarks, 
numbers of the most distinguished among the au- 
dience crowded round him, and were introduced. 
He was urgently solicited to commence as soon as 
practicable, a course of lectures on Roman Catholi- 
cism and the Jesuits — a request with which he com- 
plied ; and the lectures were commenced only two or 
three evenings afterwards. Three lectures were 
delivered each week, in English, and one on each 
Sunday evening, in Italian. All were crowded, and 
at every succeeding lecture, the enthusiasm went on 
increasing. The closing lecture of the course was a 
scene of deep and intense excitement. The vast old 
Tabernacle was crowded as full as it could hold, with 
human beings. Perfect silence reigned over the im- 
mense crowd, as the moment approached for the 
Padre to make his appearance. He came, modestly 
yet firmly advancing, and threw a steady, self-pos- 
sessed glance round the assemblage. All felt the 
magnetism of his presence — every heart thrilled in 
advance, with the coming electric storm of eloquence, 
that was to awake the slumbering deeps of their na- 
ture — and an irrepressible cheer burst from the 
audience. As before, for nearly two hours the orator 
held them spell-bound by the force of his eloquence, 
the power, the truth, and the sincerity of his own 
emotions and convictions. At the close, it was de- 



80 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

termined that this must not be the end ; and a solemn 
engagement was exacted, that the Father should return 
to New York, upon finishing his two promised lectures 
in Baltimore, and repeat the first course of lectures, in 
New York. 

By this time, the attention of the entire metropolis 
— that curious compound of indifference and -excite- 
ment, so difficult to arouse, so clamorous when once 
fairly awakened — was centred upon Father Gavazzi 
and his movements. All the daily papers regularly 
gave reports, more or less full, more or less correct, of 
each lecture ; and the Herald, Tribune, and Times 
even went so far as to employ Italian reporters, who 
had learned English, to sketch the Sunday evening 
lectures, which were given in Italian. Father Gavazzi, 
his mission, his lectures, were the theme of conversa- 
tion everywhere ; and the general excitement rose to as 
high a point as ever it had reached even under the 
sway of Kossuth. 

But it would be Avrong, deep wrong, to Father Ga- 
vazzi and his mission, to compare him seriously with 
the Hungarian chief. Kossuth landed upon our shores 
to the flourish of trumpets, and the display of a public 
military reception. He came like a great lord, or 
prince, bringing a numerous and expensive suite of at- 
tendants and followers, all of whom were to be main- 
tained at the public expense. Father Gavazzi, a poor 
Italian priest, who by his talents and his eloquence 
might have chosen a position for himself in the Roman 
Catholic Church, but who had sacrificed all these bril- 
liant worldly prospects, and even endangered his liberty 
and life, for conscience sake — came unheralded, and 
alone — although on his arrival he found that America 
already knew and was prepared to warmly welcome 
him. He had consulted but his duty ; and, strong in 
that self-reliance which is the privilege of virtue and 
courage, he came to spread in the new world, a warn- 
ing against the insidious wiles and destructive schemes 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. SI 

of Popery and Jesuitism — those two powers that war 
ever and ever, against human improvement and human 
freedom. 

Another serious disadvantage under which the Father 
labored — and which would have been sufficient to deter 
any but a man of indomitable nerve and resolution — 
was his limited knowdedo-e of the Eno^lish lano^uag-e. 
All who know the immense difficulties of the English 
language, especially to Frenchmen and Italians — and 
how almost literally impossible it is to acquire a com- 
petent colloquial knowledge of its idioms and pronun- 
ciation — will appreciate the magnitude of the task 
which the enthusiastic Italian apostle of truth had set 
himself. Indeed, this difficulty, resolutely as the Father 
attacked it, has of course remained partially unsur- 
mounted to the present moment. The reporters of the 
daily press, who are compelled to write in great haste 
and without the chance of a revisal, sometimes totally 
failed to convey the lecturer's sentiments ; and, as will 
be seen, he himself alluded to this, in the course of one 
of his lectures. The present publication, we flatter 
ourselves, w^ill obviate this great difficulty, and will en- 
able the millions who do not hear Father Gavazzi in 
person, to acquire as accurate a knowledge of his facts 
and arguments, as is enjoyed by the thousands who do. 
This subject, however, is more fully treated of in the 
" Introduction" to the present work. 

The reception of Father Gavazzi, by his country- 
men in New York, rivalled in cordiality and warmth, 
that conceded by the native portion of our citizens. 
The Italians gathered around him at once, and accorded 
to him their countenance and support ; whilst he im- 
mediately commenced inquiring in w^hat manner he 
could best serve them and promote their interests. 
Without taking into account several considerable sums 
sent by Father Gavazzi to Italy, to aid his suffering 
countrymen there, Ave may mention that the greater 
portion of the monev received for his lectures in New 

4* 



82 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

York, has been devoted to the founding of an Itahan 
church and to other measures calculated to advance the 
interests of the Italians in the United States. 

At the urgent and unanimous request of his expatri- 
ated countrymen, he at once consen4;ed to deliver an 
address in Italian every Sabbath evening, during his J 
stay in New York — but he resolutely refused to receive i 
anything for this arduous additional labor so cheerfully 
imposed on himself. These lectures were among the 
most eloquent and interesting displays of the patriot- 
ism, the piety, and the enthusiasm of the Reverend 
Father. Speaking in his native tongue, and seeing 
himself surrounded by an eager, silent, and expectant 
audience, composed principally of his own countrymen, 
he felt himself entirely at ease. The always musical 
cadences of the Italian language fell from his lips, im- 
bued with such grace, such power, such sincerity, that 
it seemed almost like the oracles of inspiration. 

These lectures were uniformxly attended by crowded 
audiences. On one occasion (April 10) the Father 
commenced the services by reading the tenth chapter of 
Paul to the Romans. Afterwards, he commented upon 
that portion of the epistle which ])romises that "who- 
ever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be 
saved." " The Apostle Paul," said the Father, " does not - 
tell us to call upon Mary, or upon St. Anthony, or upon 
St. Patrick. This advice is not given by an English 
Protestant, but by the Apostle Paul. It is, therefore, to- 
tally unnecessary to invoke any other name than that 
of Jesus, for the simple reason that we are only told 
by the Word of God to call upon that name ; this is a 
positive fact, whatever the Pope may say to the con 
trary. 

" When I was in Italy" (continued the Father), " be- 
fore the commencement of those movements which led 
to the late revolution, I preached errors ; but I will re- 
turn and preach the truth. Light brought by Paul came 
to Italy from a heretical country — from Palestine : so 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 83 

m\\ li^ht come again to Italy from a heretical country. 
Pio IX. has sent us to travel — we have seen the world 
— we have learned, and will teach. Recollect that 
Christ said that his followers should pray to God to 
send laborers to the harvest — for the work is great — it 
is difficult — it is dangerous, and the laborers are few 
The opposition we have to encounter in the population 
comes from the women and the old men. Upon these 
do the priests exercise the greatest influence, as it was 
in the days of the ancient Pagan priests, who, in every 
respect, resemble our Popish priesthood : the supersti- 
tion and bigotry of the people are the sources of their 
existence. To combat these antagonists and face the 
prejudices of the masses, much courage is required, 
more than I should have had, were it not that I have 
been on the battle-field, after which I have nothing 
which makes me timid. The chattering of women, old 
men, and priests is a different music to the roar of can- 
non and the whistling of bullets. Pray, then, to God 
to send laborers to the harvest. 

" The poor, superstitious Irish cannot comprehend 
that Political Liberty cannot exist without Liberty of 
Conscience. They think it possible to get political 
liberty alone : others, not Irish, believe that liberty of 
conscience can be procured by itself, without thinking 
about political liberty. Well, since both are mistaken 
— since neither can be had without the other — let us 
go in for getting both together. I have seen the liberty 
which exists in England, and I can testify that it is the 
Bible which gained it, and which keeps it. With the 
Bible in hand, the people preserve their liberty. Now, 
and in previous years, the punishment for preaching 
the truth in Italy is death or the galleys — ^but there is 
a good time coming." 

Then the Father arose and recited the Pater Noster. 

A profound silence reigned throughout the audience. 
The text of the sermon was then read, from Matthew 



84 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

XV : " In vain do they worship me, teaching for doc • 
trines the commandments of men." 

" Christ," said the Father, after reading the text, 
*' came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it. Christ 
gave that law which in His infinite wisdom He 
thought good for our salvation — that law of Christ, 
therefore, is complete : nothing can be taken from it, 
nor can anything be added to it. But in the Popish 
Church we have the precepts and laws of the Popes 
and Councils, which are many and directly at variance 
with the orders of Christ, and which cannot for that 
reason be divine. The laws of God are few, clear, just 
and of one mould : the laws of the Pope are many, ob- 
scure, unjust and of a variety of patterns. The laws 
of the Romish Church are not the work of one man, but 
of many men and many epochs — therefore they must be 
contradictory and many — one Pope and one- Council 
undoing the work of preceding Popes and Councils. 
The Papal Church may thus be said to wear a coat of 
many colors — patched, tattei-ed, mended — a sort of curious 
harlequin^ s]?icket. The laws of the Church are too nu- 
merous to be efficacious — a machine which has fcv? 
wheels works better than a complicated contrivance. 
So is it with laws, and so is it with religion. I speak 
from experience : the multiplicity of the laws of the 
Popish Church cause them to be contradictory — they 
are altered daily — twenty-four hours after their publi- 
cation they are forgotten and disregarded. 

" Christ said that man could not serve two masters. 
The people who reflect see that it is impossible to 
serve the Pope and Christ — therefore they end by 
serving neither. God ordered Sundays to be kept 
holy — the Pope orders the saints' days to be kept — 
the people keep neither. 

" The more superstitious and bigoted the people, the 
more they are slaves of the Pope and his priests. All 
people who have not an enlightened biblical education 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 85 

are bigoted and superstitious. We in Italy are far 
from being so badly off as the Irish in this respect, yet 
we are far from being free from superstitious impres- 
sions. If on the new year's day we meet a hunchback, 
or a squinting woman, are we not uneasy ? Do we 
not say that it is a bad omen at the beginning of the 
year ? But if we meet a funeral, are we not impress- 
ed with a panic ? At Naples, if two straws fall acci- 
dentally on the ground, forming a cross, is not every- 
body afraid to touch them? Since 1847, these silly 
prejudices — the result of priestly education — are wan- 
ing away. There are few left among the refugees. I 
have not an atom of superstition. Can anything be 
more absurd than to beheve that it is bad luck to spill 
a little salt or wine ? Yes, it is bad luck for the ow^ner 
of the table-cloth, but for none else. And the young 
w^omen are taught to look at the frost on the window^s, 
so that, for instance, if they fancy they see a pair of 
scissors, they say that they are to marry a tailor. Now 
how very silly ! All this is the effect of bad education, 
intended by confessors and Jesuits to degrade the peo- 
ple and keep them always in their clutches. 

" I know no other law than the commands of God. 
In the decalogue we have everything. Love God — 
love your neighbor — and if we love God, he will love 
us. Is not this a great blessing ? Should we not be 
happy at being able to gain His love ? 

" Now, how do the commands of the Church agree 
with those of God? The Church says, go to mass 
every Sunday and Fast Day ; whereas, the mass being 
in Latin, is not understood. Hoav few know what it 
is. You believe it to be a representation of the sacri- 
fice of Calvary — ^it is nothing better than a puppet in 
the form of a priest mumbling, conjuring, eating, drink 
ing, and washing his hands. How is the only festival 
ordained by God kept in Rome, under the very nose of 
the Pope ? The people work all day — whereas, except 
in ca.ses of necessity, they should abstain from labor on 



86 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

that day. But if a father of a family be very poor, it 
becomes a necessity for him to earn bread for his wife 
and children, and it is the hypocrisy of the Pharisee 
which would interdict him. from doing this. Give the 
poor man bread on his Sunday, and he will not work 
on that day ; let them have something other than tine 
words. But the priest has the fat capon which should 
be the poor man's. 

" Fasts were not ordained by Christ ; they ar« not 
obligatory ; Christ reproved the pretended fasting, the 
long prayers, and long faces of the Pharisees. What 
are many of these fasts ? They are vows from some 
city, or Pope, or king for some visitation of the cho- 
lera, or yellow fever, or plague. One municipality 
issued a decree for the fasting on a certain day every 
year for one hundred years. No, no ! Fast yourselves 
if you like it ; we will do as we think proper respect- 
ing it. But it is a great mistake to suppose that the 
the priests fast — really and truly feel hunger. No ! no ! 
no ! If the African who lives on a little rice were 
set at a table with a prelate on a day of fast he 
would think himself partaking of a grand feast. As 
Christ said' of the Scribes and Pharisees, they give the 
people burdens to bear which they will not themselves 
touch with their little finger. 

*' Mag7-o (not eating of meat) is contrary to Gospel. 
Paul warns us that false prophets will arise who will 
order the abstaining from meati. This Popery has 
done — ^therefore Popery is false. Eat just w^hat you 
like. 

" Another law of the Church respecting confessing 
one day in the year and communicating at Easter is 
contrary to the Word of God. Christ would not order 
his followers to go to confess to a man who is often a 
rascal or is ignorant. Let us confess to Christ. The 
Jesuits uphold the confessional that it may serve as a 
trap for the Liberals. [Applause^ — which Padre Ga- 
vazzi requested them to desist from, as it would dis- 



II 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZU 87 

luri> the neighboring congregation.] A man in the 
confessional is a spy. 

" What is done at Rome itself with the Easter tick- 
et ? He who will not go to Pasqua, sends another in his 
place, to whom he gives three or five pauls (about two 
shillings), and who manages the ticket business. The 
whole is a mass of disorders. / kiiow it. 

" The prohibition to marry in certain seasons is 
merely to make money for the priests — for there are 
regular fees Im dispensations. The rich must pay — 
the poor must wait. 

"As to that dreadful abuse — Tithe — I shall say but 
little, for that is nearly gone everywhere. 

" But the priests have long enjoyed the ecclesiastical 
property, which pioperly is public property. These 
bring in ten millions of dollars. If priests had less 
riches and were fewer in number, the people would 
suffer less, and tht? priests would be better men. 
Priests should not bo forced to labor at a trade, but 
they should not be kept in luxury. 

" Works of supererogation are contrary to Scripture. 
Ashes in the soup — -flagellations — are all insults to 
Christ. The making crosses with the tongue on the 
dirty floor ; all is false and pagan. The Franciscan 
monks are ordered to flagellate once at least every 
week. On these days an extra portion of wine is 
served out to enable them to undergo the infliction — 
which, being self-flagellation, each in his own room by 
himself, is seldom very serious. 

" The priests pretend that souls have appeared from 
purgatory. This is false, because contrary to Scrip- 
ture. The priests want the money for the masses, and 
I hey want to keep the people in ignorance. That is, in 
a w^ord, the history of the whole concern. With this 
fear, if spirits come from purgatory, they frighten peo- 
ple from going near a churchyard — ^whereas, there is 
nothing to be afraid of Men w^ho fear nothing corpo- 
real have this superstitious awe. You see how the 



88 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

priests contrive to crush every manly courageous sen- 
timent, that the invader may trample over the land. 

" All these evils w^ould vanish before good popular 
education. This is vrhat the Papists dread. They 
hate Protestant schools where no dogmas are taught, 
and where Catholic children could easily go to procure 
a good education — ^though Protestant children could 
not go into the Catholic schools, because Popish mum- 
meries are inculcated. The domestic education of 
Catholics is also under the influence of the confessor. 

" In 1848, however, the battalion of Speranza was 
the education of our youth. Bologna saw the valor of 
those youths, and Garibaldi can testify how they con- 
ducted themselves before the enemy. 

" Blind obedience is the doctrine of the Romish 
priests. In Italy we have seen this — though in Ireland 
it is worse than with us. Let us have no blind obe- 
dience. Let us compare their preaching with the 
Word of God. Let us observe their private conduct, 
and respect such as conduct themselves well. Let us 
follow the example of such as are good. Christ styled 
them the salt of the earth, and ordered them to show 
us a good example. 

" Popery is slavery — the Gospel is liberty. But for 
Popery we should have no barbarians in Italy." 

We do not pretend, as we before stated, to give a 
full report of these Lectures in Italian — but still we 
could not determine to deprive the public of some per- 
manent record of their general scope and tendency. 

On another occasion, addressing his countrymen in 
their own language, the Father read some verses of 
exhortation from the Apostle Paul to the Romans, be- 
ginning — " Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer unto 
God for Israel is, that they might be saved." 

" My friends !" then said the Father, " the Apostle 
Paul said, long before there were Popes in Rome, that 
he felt assured of their being full of light and glory. 
That was, I say, long.before there was any Pope. Noi 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 89 

could he have expected that any increase of hght and 
gloiy could accrue to them in future times from the 
Popes ; for he said, in the chapter we have just read, 
that * Christ is the end of the law for all righteous- 
ness.' But you ^\ill see in a chapter which I will read 
by and by, that Paul prophesied something rather op- 
posed to light and glory, as being about to come from 
Popery. The Romans were filled with the spirit of 
God before they had a Pope — for w^hich, we have the 
incontestible testimony of Paul. That they have very 
httle of either noAv, and ever since they have had 
Popes, we learn by our oa'^ti experience, and the page 
of history. Therefore, our duty to God and to our 
country is, to effect the total destruction of Popery, 
spiritual and temporal. 

" As there were saints in the early days of the Church, 
without a Pope, so might we be now, in the nineteenth 
century, without a Pope. Paul says, that wherever 
he went preaching, his testimony was corroborated by 
the gift of performing miracles. This performance of 
miracles is one of the claims set up by the Pope to-day 
in aid of his support from Heaven. This, on the con- 
trary, is a proof of the falsity of Popery ; for the mira- 
cles of Paul and the other apostles were performed in 
the early days of Christianity to convijice unbehevers 
(such is the use of miracles), therefore, if miracles 
be performed in Rome now, this is proof that the 
Popish population are infidel, and require miracles to 
conA*ince them." 

Father Gavazzi then recited the Pater Noster, and 
read a portion of the second chapter of Thessalonians, 
ending at the tw^elfth verse : " And for this cause God 
shall send them strong delifsion, that they should believe 
a lie ; that they might all be damned who believe 
not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." 

" This," said the Father, " is the opposite to the 
first chapter I read, and it evidently is a prophecy of 
Popery as is amply corroborated by the writings of 



90 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

John and other apostles. Is not the Pope the only- 
man who raises himself above all men — is he not styled 
by all the writers of the Church, King of Kings, Vice- 
regent of God ? Is he not greater than God ? Can- 
not the Pope do that which God cannot do — for what 
is illicit for God is the same not licit for the Pope? 
Is not the Pope above all right, as well as all might? 
The adversary of which Paul speaks ? Does he not 
say, ' / am that I am V 

" Compare every word — every syllable — every letter 
of Paul, and we must acknowledge that he prophesied 
respecting the Pope in the Vatican. He came not as 
a low fellow, but as a temporal prince with great 
power and with miracles. No person can be styled 
beatus who has not performed miracles during his life 
and since his death. The Church is full of miracles, 
legends, and saints — but as Paul says they are false 
miracles. Consider these miracles philosopliically and 
then you cannot fail to perceive their complete absur- 
dity. V^hen Paul says that the eyes of certain per- 
sons will be so blinded as for them to be deluded by 
strong deceit, that they should believe a lie and be 
damned, the prophecy clearly alludes to Popery and 
the Papists. If any one will continue Papist after 
reading the Bible, then, indeed, must he be stupidly 
blind or corrupted by w^orldly interest." 

" What love had Pio IX. for Italy ? 

" Just as the patriot army left Rome for Lombardy, 
I had an interview w^ith Pio. I spoke to him of the 
love of Italy for him. " Speak not to we," said he, " of 
Italy — mi7id, not to speak to me of Italy T The Pope 
had blessed the banners, we were on the point of leav- 
ing, and he said, " Where dre you going ? You shall 
not cross the Po." I told him that on the other side 
of the Po there was a province — ^the lower Possessino 
— taken from the Pope by the Congress of Vienna. I 
said that we w^ould get that for him again, and then 
eagerly he said, " Ah, yes, good, get that !" Let our 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 91 

cry be Fuori i harbari ! — ^but first of all — Fuori il Papa ! 
(Out with barbarians — out with the Pope.) 

" As a Christian, I cannot approve of the Sicilian 
Vespers. But the Sicilian Vespers effectually settled 
the French intervention in Sicily — none escaped. That 
blow was a lesson that nations cannot with impunity 
oppress other nations, and that a day of retribution 
must arrive. We must in our affairs act, so that what- 
ever be done, be done properly, and not like children. 
But, as a Christian, I cannot approve of the Sicilian 
Vespers. 

" The Popes have always excited bloodshed in Italy. 
Genoa was urged to war against Pisa, and when that 
city w^as subdued, the Pope exulted with Florence, 
Vienna, and other independent governments. The 
League of Cambray was the work of a Pope. Lucio 
II. , a Pope, in person led the storming party against 
the capitol ; a stone laid him low, and shortly he was 
a corpse. 

" Such is Popery in Italy. If you desire to have 
nationahty, commerce, happiness, wealth, instruction, 
liberty, security, glory, you must get rid of Popery. 
Either be miserable bigots and have Popes, or cast 
aside Popes and be free. Have no obedience to a 
Pope. Destruction to Popery ! 

" Tomassio says, give a little city to the Pope to ex- 
ercise his sovereignty. No ! If w^e give him ever so 
small a city, the rest of Italy and of the world can 
enjoy no security. Destruction to Popery. [Bravo]. 
But it is silly to talk about giving the Pope a little 
city, for to force him from Rome into the little city we 
must make a revolution, and then w^e had better force 
him away altogether. Surely w^e should never be so 
silly as to give him ever so little a city after the 
experience w^e have had. No ! no ! No more Pope 
at all. 

"The movement of 1821 would have been satisfied 
with a constitution given by Austria. 1831 would have 



92 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

been satisfied with a few reforms. 1848 demanded the 
Unity of Italy. So all has been progressive from 1821 
to 1848. The next movement must be yet more pro- 
gressive. 

"Rome is the proper capital of Italy. Venice, 
Genoa, Florence, Bologna, Naples, Palermo, have 
their glories, but Rome stands unrivalled. Rome — 
hut without a Pope^ 

It is not the least among the evidences of the deep 
interest felt in Father Gavazzi by his own countrymen, 
that his Sunday evening Lectures were always crowded, 
although nothing could be more simple and bald of all 
extraneous attractions, than the entire •service. No 
music, no accessories of any kind : nothing but a 
chapter from the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and the 
Address. 

On the 24th of April, the Father commenced the 
service by reading the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to 
the Romans. After which, he said, " The beautiful 
ciiapter which I have just read shows that we are call- 
ed upon to perform good actions. Those who do so 
will reap their reward. Faith, charity, and justice — 
these three words express the means by which we 
can obtain heavenly and earthly happiness. 

" Let us consider our duties as regard our actions, 
toward God, ourselves, and our fellow men. 

" Our duties to God are comprised in the Decalogue. 
First, we must respect His name. I do not believe 
that any man is without the religion of nature, con- 
science, honesty. If I find a man having a religion 
which comprises the duties of man, I cannot exclude 
him. Christ has laid on us no superstitions — He only 
requires faith. His baj)tism is not merely water, but 
the Holy Ghost. Those who have the knowledge of 
revelation cannot be saved by the natural religion — 
they must be baptized and believe. We must not ne- 
glect the advantage we derive from being born in a ci- 
vilized country. We are told in Scripture that we 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 93 

should ourselves do honor to God by our good works, 
(not by going to confessions, masses, processions, &c.,) 
that men may glorify God seeing our works ; whereas 
the Roman Church says, that whoever is not baptized 
by her priests must go to hell. God has not created 
man to make him miserable and damn him in eternal 
fire. No ; whoever is cast into hell fire, is there con- 
demned for his misdeeds. Recollect the conversation 
of Christ with Nicodemus. Job was born before 
Christ and baptism came into the world — yet he is a 
saint. If good deeds were not to save, all would be 
damned who were born before the advent of Chris- 
tianity. 

" We must respect the name of God, and we must 
avoid swearing. Wherever the Popish priesthood and 
the Jesuits are powerful there is a habit of blaspheming 
— ^vv'itness Naples, Rome [laughter] — the people there 
are constantly joking with Peter, Paul and the Virgin. 
Our Dominican friars and inquisitors used to amuse 
themselves with putting a lock on the tongues of 
swearers — on the poor only — the rich were never inter- 
fered with. In the beginning of the movement in 
Italy in 1847, Pio IX., who was then believed to be a 
progressive Pope, preached a sermon against swearing, 
and the people ceased to blaspheme to please the Pope. 
Now the delusion is passed respecting Pio IX., let us 
cease swearing to please God. 

" After your daily labor of the week is over, devote 
a part of Sunday to read the Bible. Not all the Sun- 
day — I do not approve of certain Scotch and Protest- 
ant practices, keeping people at home or at church all 
day, with no walk or recreation. I have seen in certain 
places what this staying at home all day means — gos- 
sipping over whisky toddy — tumblers of toddy to 
enliven your hearts. I do not recommend you to do as 
in some countries (under the eye of the priests and 
Jesuits), go to bull and bear baiting — but repose and 
refresh yourselves. 



, 94 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

" Could it be possible to form a little congregation, 
it would be very desirable that the Protestants should 
not say that we are without religion now that we have 
disclaimed the Pope. We will talk of justice, and we 
will do justice to ourselves— not self-love — ^but a proper 
sentiment of our own dignity. I have seen enough of 
America to be able to say, that any one who works 
can gain his livelihood. America can give bread to all 
the emigrants. In. England we had the misfortune 
to have £900 sterling subscribed ready for us when 
we arrived there in exile — and this was rather an in- 
jury than a benefit. Let every one work, save money, 
and make himself independent. Earth is a mother 
which lets none of her children want. "Work, live and 
be temperate. 

" Do not take me for a temperance orator ; that 
would be a mistake. I mean only justice. I do not 
intend, either, to preach against temperance in Ame- 
rica. Total abstinence has the approbation of a large 
amount of people and some legislatures ; and Paul 
tells us not to take wine if a brother w^ould be scan- 
dalized. But now I speak to the Italians, and I do not 
entirely disapprove of wines and liquors. I must 
preach the whole Gospel, and not as some do, only 
those portions which please them. Christ says, that 
it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles a man, 
but that which cometh out of the mouth. Also, the 
first miracle he performed was turning water into 
wine, and not wine into water — and it was really good 
wine. Paul directed wine to be taken as a means to 
keep out of the doctor's hands. How, then, could I 
preach the Gospel and absolutely prohibit wine ? 

" We are on the eve of a great convulsion ; the Pro- 
testants are asleep ; they do not see that temperance 
is a Jesuitical movement. I do not make this assertion 
because its founder was a Capuchin monk, but on 
account of its ceremonies. The nature of the society is 
Jesuitical — ^binding by oath its votaries to total absti 



J 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 95 

nence, to propagandize, and to proselytize. Jesus 
never instituted it. Gregory VIL, obliged priests to 
take vows of celibacy and poverty, and to observe 
fasts, vigils, &c. If Archbishop Hughes be taunted 
with these absurdities, he can point to the temperance 
societies of the Protestants, who can make no reply 
This institution will bring England and America to 
embrace the other Papal fasts and abstinences. 

'' But some zealous Protestant may say, then you 
protect the drunkard, the masses being disposed to 
abuse the gift of wine. I reply that I do not protect 
the drunkard. I have heard Paul quoted where he 
says that adulterers, thieves, avaricious, drunkards, 
fornicators, &c., cannot enter into Heaven. Then to 
avoid adultery, which is the infraction of the marriage 
vow, shall we prohibit matrimony ; to prevent thieving 
shall we not allow anything to exist for thieves to 
steal ; to prevent avarice shall we prohibit property 
and commerce ; to prevent fornication shall we prevent 
men and women from living ? Yet the temperance 
people would destroy wine to prevent drunkenness. 

" All the texts of Paul are not so rigidly adhered to, 
for the apostle wrote some strong remarks respecting 
women, which are not paid great attention to. I would 
not speak against the women, but certainly they are to 
be seen here in the present day in situations very 
different from the position marked out by the apostle. 
We have even curates — a Reverend Antoinette. Well ! 
they will doubtless take good care of their flock. 

" The best way to moralize the people is to enforce 
temperance and moderation. This may seem a long 
road to travel, but it is a sure way. How many 
drunkards do you suppose have joined the temperance 
societies ? perhaps a million you may say — or one 
hundred thousand. No ! Not a hundred. Barely a 
dozen drunkards. The rest are all those who do not 
like wine, and they make no great sacrifice in drinking 
water. I ascertained that in England (I do not speak 



96 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

of America, because I am best acquainted with Eng 
land), the number of drinking shops is increased since 
the commencement of the temperance movement. 

" I cannot, in Italy preach a fiction of the Gospel. 
I find that wine does good to man. Christ made a 
miracle in its favor. I cannot preach against it. I am 
an independent man, and am not paid by any Protest- 
ant to preach any, practice any, which I disapprove. 
If I were working for dollars I would have stayed in 
England and should not have come to America. 

" Our duty to each other is to do unto others as we 
would that others should do unto us. Not to speak ill 
of each other, to speak well of each other and to help 
each other. The English respect the Poles, Germans, 
Hungarians, French, because they work. They are 
employed, and are gaining comfortable livelihoods in 
all parts of England and Scotland. 

" On Thursday next, at the Tabernacle, the Lecture 
will be for the benefit of the refugees lately expelled 
from Piedmont and now on their w^ay here. The go- 
vernment of the king is not to blame in the least. 
That government has, under the protection of England, 
protested against the large confiscations of the property 
of some of the first families in Lombardy." 

It will be noticed that the above sketch of the Lec- 
ture in Italian, April 24, contains a passage respecting 
the temperance movement, which has been made the 
subject of a great deal of comment, and considerable 
misrepresentation. It is clear that the lecturer is not 
opposed to temperance — but only to the imposition of 
oaths, pledges, and obligations. This is a question 
upon which the best and wisest have always difi'ered ; 
and even yet, there are many of the ablest and sin- 
cerest friends of temperance who doubt the expe- 
diency of the present organizations. But the charge 
of being opposed to temperance was one apt to stick, 
and calculated to do a great deal of injury to its sub- 
ject. Therefore, it was strictly in accordance with 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 97 

the spirit of that Jesuitism against which Father Ga- 
vazzi wars, to pervert what he really said, into the 
basis of such a charge, and, when he denounced the 
charge as false, to take no notice of the denial. How- 
ever, it is late in the day for such appeals to blind 
fanaticism, to produce any great effect. Father 
Gavazzi has been, and will be, seen and heard, and his 
real sentiments will be read and understood throughout 
the whole Christian world. Misrepresentation cannot 
seriously injure the cause he advocates or assist that 
of the Jesuits. 

On the 1st of May, Father Gavazzi again preached 
in Italian to his countrymen, from the following text : 
" The just shall live, neither shall dishonor be imputed 
to him." 

" St. Augustin says that the elect of God can be 
distinguished among one thousand, by their orderly 
and exemplary conduct — they have in all times been 
called the flower. Martyrdom cannot be gained by 
the mere suffering of pain unless the cause be just. 
Those who suffer death for the crime of murder are 
not martyrs. Ankarstrom, Ravaillac, and such men 
were not martyrs. Martyrdom signifies witness. Next 
to the cause of religion comes that of country, for which 
a man can suffer martyrdom. He who has suffered 
prison, persecution, privation, exile, or death is a 
martyr. The suffering of patriots for the cause of th& 
liberty and independence of their country, gains praise, 
progress, and ultimately success for the cause. We 
should never be ashamed of being Italians. Oui 
country, since the earliest pages of history, has had an 
existence. For talents, patriotism, arts, science, and 
glory, our nation stands the first in the world. 

" The stupid, exclusive, bigoted and cruel tribunal 
of the Inquisition, strove to check all human improve- 
ments, persecuted Galileo, and dared to stigmatize the 
profound philosophers as the enemies of God. But 
there was a tribunal higher and stronger than that of 
5 



98 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

the Romish Church ; that tribunal declared the great 
minds of the age, excommunicated by the priests, not 
to be damned heretics, but glorious martyrs. 

" The love of God is the first love ; country comes 
second. He who does not love the country which has 
* given to his fathers their existence, is a bad man, spoilt 
by the corruption of the Church of Rome. The 
despots eagerly strive to cover their victims with ridi- 
cule and calumny. Do they succeed ? Which is 
honored — Haynau the executioner, or his victim Bath- 
yani ? Are the Bolzas and Nardonis honored ? or do 
the people honor the Baudivras and the Montanaris ? 
I had rather have been in the place of Caraicola than 
of Nelson, the hero of Trafalgar, who descended to 
the despicable crime of destroying a man through sen- 
timents of personal envy. Our martyrs occupy the 
brightest pages of our history. Italy, it has recently 
been said, will soon be a nation of dead men. We 
shall see by and by. Our neighbors in Gaul presilmed 
to taunt our emissary with the reproach that * The 
Italians dorUt fights Bravely these boasters came to 
Rome, thinking that the Italians would not fight. 
They soon learned to their cost whether the Itahans 
could use the bayonet. If we fell under the weight 
of the quadrupled invasion, the dishonor belonged to 
the Frenchmen, the Spaniards, the Croatians and the 
mercenaries of King Bomba. When the allied armies 
entered Paris, the servile Parisians went out to greet 
them, and the ladies waved their kerchiefs — ^vile, de- 
graded, cursed slaves. We met our invaders as 
invaders should be met. With war, and not with re- 
joicing. 

" On the field of Veletri I saw the difference between 
the death of the patriot and that of the myrmidons of 
the despots. I confessed the dying soldiers of both 
armies. The dying Neapolitan cursed his king, and 
died in the agonies of despair ; the patriot soldiers died 
calm and happy, with Viva V Italia ! Viva la Liberta ! 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 99 

Viva Jesu I upon their lips. Despots have done their 
utmost to vihfy us even here in New York — not The 
Freeman! s Journal alone, but many others. Did they 
suppose that the dying patriot would bless the apostate 
murderer, the Pope ? No ! no ! The patriot can only 
curse whosoever brings an invader into his native land. 
Pio IX. can hope for nothing but execration from the 
patriots. 

" What mind is so vile as that of a Popish priest ? 
The very bodies of the patriots who died defending the 
walls of Rome were rehised the right of sepulchre, as 
excommunicated. But the voice of Italy declares that 
these men are not execrated ; their bones remain 
whitened in the fields, witnesses against Pio. The 
stranger going to Italy admires our marbles and our 
monuments of stone — ^the real glory which they should 
seek for and admire lies in the bones of our martyrs. 

" The Church, ruling with royal power, destroyed 
the unity of Italy. At the time of the first French 
Repubhc a glimmer of hope appeared, but was quickly 
obscured by the desire of universal French prepon- 
derance which existed in the mind of that nation. In 
1817, in 1821-1831, steps were made in the public 
mind of Italy. At first, Italy, led by a few zealous men, 
was willing to accept a Constitution even from the 
despot of Austria ; but these hopes were frustrated, 
and unjust executions earned for Carlo Felice of Pied- 
mont the name of Carlo Feroce, and for the King of 
Naples the name of Caracalla. In these terrible times 
the confessional was used to draw information from the 
breasts of the unsuspecting Catholics ; and this be- 
coming known, gave the first serious blow to the 
Church of Rome in Italy. The dungeons of the Spil- 
barg in Moravia were filled with the Italian martyrs. 
But in defiance of prison, exile, galleys, and scaffolds, 
the people made progress through the sufferings of the 
martyrs, and now nationality is the universal resolu- 
tion from the Alps to the sea. The last invasion 



100 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

brought into Italy by the perjured Pope — ^that angel, as 
his deluded admirers called him — has augmented the 
number of Italy's martyrs, but has sent the country 
forward an immense distance in the path of progress. 
Ugo Bassi, my companion for twelve years — so de- 
serving, and never to be forgotten — the patriot who, 
through every danger, remained faithfal to his country 
and to progress — wounded by the bullet of the Austrian 
invaders — taken prisoner by the French invaders when 
tending their wounded on the field of battle — he — the 
faultless, mild, virtuous, noble victim of Popish barba- 
rity — was brought out to be executed by the invaders* 
murderous weapons, after having been tortured, ^ayec^, 
scalped, by the sanguinary priests. What were his last 
words to his companions in martyrdom as they stood 
beside the grave already dug to receive them ? * Cour- 
age ! in a few moments we shall be in the bosom of 
Christ. Viva V Italia P Seven balls pierced his breast — 
he fell — and, in defiance of the vigilance of the Cardi- 
nal, flowers were strewed upon his grave. I hear his 
voice ; he says. Avenge me — Destroy Popery /" 

The Padre then said he had a few words to say on 
a matter of charity for an Italian, which was favorably 
received. 

He then spoke of the expected arrival of the exiles 
sent out of Piedmont by the Government of the King, 
and he recommended that no demonstration should be 
made by the Itahans on the arrival of these unfortunate 
martyrs, because such a step would be a slap in the 
face for that Government ; he recommended rather that 
a little committee should be formed, and that money 
be collected to help them. 

The Padre then alluded to the fresh attacks of the 
Courrier des Etats Unis, which he ridiculed. " Let him 
scold; we will reply by facts, which is better than 
* hlaguer!' Yesterday was the anniversary on which 
the French, in 1849, before Rome, learnt that the 
Italians could do something better than * hlagiier.^ Let 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 101 

US show these hlagueurs that we have a congregation. 
Now I have received the offer of a piece of ground to 
build us a chapel. The offer is not from a Protestant. 
We have many thorns here more than in England ; but 
this is a rose among the thorns. I cannot, as did St. 
Christopher, take the chapel on my own shoulders ; 
but will you make a congregation, and then the rest 
will be done somehow. Elect your ow^n priest, and 
make a committee of management. Then let us show 
the Courrier that I am not merely a destroyer. 

" Christianity was cemented by the blood of its 
martyrs — so is our cause. The Crociats w^ere not 
rabble, but the flowers of Italy — ^the educated — the 
Vicentini, w^ho, dying in battle, bequeathed 25,000 francs 
per annum for education— the universities — ^the artists 
— aye, and the schools* The Speranza of Garibaldi 
did prodigies against the troops of the Nero of Naples. 
The ladies, who had never before served their country, 
now asked to be permitted to carry a standard or a 
miisket. You recollect the bride just married w^ho fell 
covering the body of her husband — the brother who 
returned to bear to the wife of his brother fallen in 
battle the news of his death, and vrho was instantly 
desired by the widow to return to the ranks of the 
combatants to avenge him. 

"The time of conspiracies is past — we only wait for 
an opportunity. The tyrants have brought the matter 
to a crisis. Union — ^vengeance. The blood of the 
martyrs cries for vengeance, as is written in the |leve- 
lations. No family among us but has some victim ; 
but these martyrs will not have shed their blood in 
vain." 

The last of the Italian discourses related to the great 
difference existing between the Catholics and Protest- 
ants on the subject of Justification. 

The foundation of Popery is built upon works of 
supererogation, while the basis of Protestantism is 
Faith. The decision of the Council of Trent was 



/ 



/ 



102 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

dictated by enmity against the Reformers rather than 
by the love of rehgion. In anathematizing Luther and 
Calvin, the Council actually cursed Paul, Christ, and 
the Holy Ghost. 

The text of the sermon on this occasion was taken 
from the 2d Epistle of Ephesians : " We are saved by 
faith and the will of God," not by our works. Justifi- 
cation, grace by grace, and faith in Jesus. Why is 
religion despised by so many learned and scientific 
persons ? Because it requires too much, and we con- 
found the religion of Jesus with Paganism, and there 
is so much incoherence, contradiction, and opposition 
to liberty. But this is the religion of the Pope — ^not 
of Jesus. Many ask if I believe. I tell you I do 
believe sincerely. When I was a Papist I also firmly 
beheved ; but now I believe in the Bible only, and I am 
unhappy when I find any one who does not. As I was 
never an unbeliever, I cannot understand how any one 
can be an unbeliever. My religion imposes on me 
charity and love : Socrates and all the philosophers 
had that religion. 

" The fimdamental basis of our religion is justifica- 
tion by faith and grace, that is, we are purified and 
accepted. We are not justified by our works ; that 
excludes the vanity of good works. He who is bap- 
tized is saved. * Our consciences tell us whether we are 
accepted. How can we be justified without Christ ? 

" Poper}'' teaches us that those who work the most 
shall gain more exalted stations in Heaven. I tell you, 
the more of the Popish work you do, the farther you 
will get from Heaven. If good works were necessary 
to save, then the sacrifice of Christ was not complete, 
but a farther sacrifice is necessary, which is in direct 
contradiction to Paul. 

". Then come the questions. Do you exclude good 
works ? and, May a man live a bad life and be saved 
by faith ? Good works are the consequence of faith, 
nevertheless, it is the faith which saves. No Protestant 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 103 

excludes works. It is necessary for society to i^bserve 
the laws of nature ; to do unto others as we would 
they should do unto us, and to help and protect each 
other. 

" If you had been, as I have been, at the death bed 
of thousands of dying Catholics, you would have seen 
in what a state of uncertainty they die. And, why so ? 
Because, their justification being founded on good 
works, they are uncertain whether these works have 
proved sufficient ; whereas, if their hopes lay in Christ, 
they would be tranquil. This is why Protestants die 
so tranquiUy. I used to believe in and to recommend 
myself to the Virgin ; but now I beheve in her no 
longer, for I believe in Christ. Let us have no more 
mass. These masses are only to increase the power 
and the purse of the priests. All masses are paid for 
at several prices, according to their quality. Virgil 
sang of the pains of purgatory, long before Christ was 
born. In China, Japan, India, and other Pagan coun- 
tries, we find purgatory. The priests laugh at it, and 
talk of greasing their shoes to slide easily and quickly 
through." 

The Padre then described the fryings and roastings 
of purgatory, and recited several amusing stories re- 
specting priests, devils, &c. 

" If God has condemned souls to purgatory, how 
can he in his justice let them out for the saying of 
masses by other persons ? The thing is absurd. Pur- 
gatory is not in the Bible — to introduce it the Papists 
were forced to bring the book of Maccabees into their 
Bible." 

After the Benediction, the Padre said a few words 
respecting the new Italian chapel, projected by some 
friends of the evangelical operations of the reverend 
gentleman. The Father gave notice that during the 
week lists would be circulated to see if a congregation 
could be found sufficiently large to make it worth 
while to build the chapel in question. We are happy 



104 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

to be able to announce that this project, thanks to the 
efforts of Father Gavazzi, and a few other philanthropic 
spirits, is in a fair way of being coiisummated. This 
is but the commencement of a series of practical results 
to accrue to the Italians in America, from the mission 
of Father Gavazzi. 

After he had concluded his regular course of Lec- 
tures in New York, the Father paid a visit to Balti- 
more, where he experienced considerable opposition 
from " high quarters" — that city being known to con- 
tain within it a very wealthy, powerful, and active 
Roman Catholic influence, daily spreading and growing 
stronger. All kinds of petty annoyances and obstruc- 
tions were thrown in his way — and it was even not 
without considerable difficulty that a room was obtain- 
ed for the Lectures. However, he finally succeeded, 
and delivered two Lectures there, which were attend- 
ed by crowded audiences, and received with most en- 
thusiastic demonstrations of approbation. 

Returning from Baltimore, in accordance with his 
promise, the regular course of the Lectures in New 
York — ^those which we now present to the public — ^was 
repeated. The attendance and enthusiasm on each 
occasion, showed that the metropolis was still under 
the spell of the Father's eloquence, and that he had 
produced a powerful impression upon all thinking 
minds. 

Of course, all these events had not passed without 
exciting the fears and the vigilance of the Papists and 
Jesuits, against whom his attacks were aimed. Taking 
advantage of the facile mohocracy of New York — a 
power evoked by the Papists themselves from the 
lowest and most ignorant class of our foreign popula- 
tion — a regularly organized attempt was made to hiss 
down Father Gavazzi, break up his Lectures, and 
drive him from the city. Thanks to the firmness of 
the Father himself, and the prompt and hearty co-ope- 
ration of the authorities to preserve order, these nefa- 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 105 

rious designs were entirely defeated. On one or two 
occasions, some disturbance occurred, which was soon 
quelled, and the Lectures proceeded as if nothing had 
happened. It is not yet in this country that the free 
expression of opinion can be put down ; and the result 
of the efforts of the Papists and their ignorant brutal 
tools, to put down Father Gavazzi, has only been to 
increase his popularity, and consequently, the benefit of 
his labors. 

After the Lectures in New York were concluded, the 
Father received numerous and pressing invitations to 
visit and lecture in other places in the neighborhood. 
To most of these he was compelled to return reluctant 
denials ; but, yielding to the personal solicitations of 
many respectable and influential citizens, he at length 
consented to postpone his departure for another week, 
.for the purpose of lecturing in Brooklyn, Jersey City, 
and Williamsburgh. On every occasion on which he 
appeared, he created the greatest enthusiasm, and evi- 
dently made, by his Lectures, the profoundest impres- 
sion. We do not give even a sketch of these lectures, 
as they are contained almost literally in the full report 
of the regular series of Lectures at the Tabernacle, 
contained in this volume. 

Invited by a deputation from Philadelphia, Father 
Gavazzi left New York for that city, where he lec- 
tured for five successive nights. The subjects of his 
Lectures must of course be the same in all places, for 
he has but one object to obtain in every country, that 
is, to enlighten the Catholic population as to the evils 
and perversions of the Church of Rome, and to warn 
the Protestant population of the increasing power of 
Rome and her Jesuit priests in nations where hitherto 
Protestantism has been dominant. But the Father's 
eloquence, founded on inspiration arising from sincere 
and profound conviction, gives the charm of novelty to 
every one of his Lectures, though the subject may not 
vary. His audiences in Philadelphia were even more 
3* 



106 LIFE OP FATHER GAVAZZI. 

numerous than in New York. The most enlightened 
citizens of Philadelphia followed his arguments with 
the greatest interest, for at this moment the Jesuits are 
making unheard-of efforts in the Quaker city to obtain 
the direction of all public schools, and to exclude from 
them the reading of the Scriptures. 

The press of Philadelphia spot e in the most enthu- 
siastic terms of Father Gavazzi. 

The Sun and Bulletin went so far as to call his mis- 
sion the advent of a second Messiah, for he comes to 
save the people from mental slavery and death. Phila- 
delphia was ground already consecrated to the cause 
of anti-Popery ; and from the first moment of opening 
his lips there, the Father appeared to be inspired with 
even more than his wonted enthusiasm. In his first 
lecture, on the subject of the prohibition of the Bible, 
he said — 

" If the Church of Rome prohibits the reading of 
the Gospel, it is the Church apostate from the Gospel. 
It is no more the Church of Christ — it is the Church 
of anti-Christ. Perhaps it will be said, if in ancient 
times the Church prohibited the reading of the Bible, 
it is more liberal to-day. But if the Church of Rome 
to-day is liberal towards Catholics living among Pro- 
testants, this dispensation proves that there was before 
a prohibition — therefore this liberality is one of the 
strongest proofs of the prohibition of the Bible in other 
times. But is it true that among the Roman Catholics 
of this country they enjoy the free reading of the 
Bible ? The priests do not read the Bible from the 
pulpit. They do not advise the people to read their 
Bible at home. No, never. And, therefore, the license 
to read is only a mere license, and intended to deceive 
the Protestants. By the bulls of Sixtus VI. and 
Clement VII. the Roman Catholics are prohibited 
from reading the Bible without license — not verbally, 
but in writing. License for reading the Word of God ! 
and. without license, if I read the Bible in a vernacular 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 107 

tongue, I commit a mortal sin, and cannot be absolved 
by my confessor ! License ! I have the command of 
God, and need no other license. Christ never said in 
the Gospel, Go and search the bulls of the Popes, or 
the pastorals, or the bishops, but said. Go and search 
the Scriptures. St. Paul never said. Go read the 
works of Alphonso Liguori or Ignatius de Loyola, 
And, therefore, if popes, cardinals, bishops, and Jesuits 
prohibit the reading of the Bible, and God and Christ 
command me on the other side, I vi^ill obey God, and 
disobey popes, and cardinals, and Jesuits. 

" We have the proposition plainly proved that the 
popes prohibit the Bible ; but we have another party 
who say the popes grant license to read the Bible. 
But what Bible ? The pope will thus escape the accu- 
sation, but it is so easy, in the papal system, to unite 
truth and falsehood, that you cannot be surprised at 
this. The Bible read at present in the papal system, 
is a really corrupted Bible. The apocryphal books 
are introduced, by which many errors of the church 
seem authorized. But we oppose the intrusion of the 
apocryphal books which were introduced in the Coun- 
cil of Trent. This Council was composed of fifty- 
three prelates, and therefore it was said to be a General 
Council, representing the whole Church. But we dis- 
claim the apocryphal books, and will call ourselves 
Christians, and the fathers of the council apostates. 
The ancient Jews never admitted the apocryphal 
books among the canonical books, according to Jose- 
phus. More, the primitive Church of Christ never 
admitted the apocryphal books. The Council of 
Laodicea absolutely rejected them, and the Council of 
Constantinople confirmed that. Generally speaking, 
the fathers rejected and excluded the apocryphal books. 
Eiisebius and Jeronymus were among them, and there- 
fore \^e exclude these books, not because we are Pro- 
testants, but because we are Christians of the primi- 
tive Church. The Councils are infallible and immu- 



108 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

table. Yery. well. The Councils of Laodicea and 
Constantinople excluded these books, and therefore, 
according to them, we reject them. Oh ! said the 
Council of Trent, you must admit them. Who is 
infallible — ^who lies ? The Councils of Laodicea and 
Constantinople, or that of Trent ? This is the first 
alteration and corruption in the Bible, because many 
great errors are supported by the book of the Macca- 
bees. But there is also a real corruption in the Bible. 
Take, for example, the Latin vulgate. Before the 
Council of Trent, Augustine rose to reproach Jerony- 
mus for many errors in his translation. Afterwards 
the translation was much altered by the amanuenses, 
10 that Sixtus V. was obliged to alter it ; and he said, 
" I have corrected this vulgate of many thousands of 
errors." After a few years, Clement VII. published a 
jull, recalling all the copies of Sixtus V., stating that 
ie found two thousand errors, which he had corrected. 
This is said by Clement VII. in his preface. Now the 
Douay Bible was translated before the alterations of 
Sixtus v., so that it contains all the errors altered by 
Sixtus V. and Clement VII. Now, not quoting Protes- 
tant books, but a Papist authority, I can prove the 
Romish Bible to be Jaorribly corrupt. One of my old 
Barnebite brethren wrote, a few years ago, a book, 
published in Rome, revised by the Inquisition, in which 
book he said that he found, in the present vulgate, not 
less than seven hundred and fifty capital errors. This 
is stated by a Romish monk, in Rome. Now, this is . 
the Bible read by the Catholics — the Word corrupted, 
expressly by popes. I have the authority of Cle- 
ment VII. that purposely many things which ought to 
be changed, were not changed, and many things added 
not from the Word of God. I can say that from 
Genesis to the Revelations the Bible is corrupted. In 
the text " He shaU crush the serpent's head," the 
Romish Bible has introduced the word " she." The 
text where Christ said, " I shall send my Holy Spirit 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 109 

to you to teach you what I have said," is altered from 
the preterit into the future, " what I shall say," so as to 
permit the popes to introduce any new dogmas. The 
text where Paul directs that a bishop shall be the hus- 
band of one wife, is made to convey the meaning that 
he shall have only one diocese, as the diocese is his 
wife. Who composed the Councils ? Men who wrote 
the bulls — men who are the holy fathers — men who 
are the ascetical writers of the Papal system — all men. 
And will I substitute the fallibility of men for the infal- 
libility of God ! Oh, no ! I can be safe without pope 
and councils, and ascetical writers, but I cannot be safe 
without God. The Roman Catholic Church claims 
infallibility by apostolical traditions. According to 
them, many of the apostolical traditions are superior 
to the Word of God. 

" I have nothing to answer when my Reman Catho- 
lic brethren believe traditions superior to the Bible — 
liberty to all. Believe, my dear brethren, in traditions, 
but I will believe in the Bible. Is that according to 
Clement and Eusebius, \^ hen the heretics cannot find 
in the Word of God proof for their heresies, they find 
it in the apostolical traditions ; and therefore the 
Church of Rome is an heretical church. The Papal 
system will have a foundation in the traditions of 
Papia when it is favorable to them ; but when the con- 
trary is the case, it rejects Papia — so that Papia is a 
very good writer when he is favorable to the Church 
of Rome, but he believes too much when he is unfavor- 
able. I will admit some apostolical tradition, not as a 
foundation for faith, but as an inspiration. But we 
have apostolical traditions against the Word of God. 
Christ said, " Not that which goeth into the mouth 
defileth the body," so that the true Christian can eat 
flesh and fish indifferently ; but the Church of Rome 
prescribed some particular food on Friday and Satur- 
day in Ember week, or in Lent. To obey the Word 
of God and tradition is impossible. If you believe the 



110 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

Bible, you cannot err ; but if you believe the tradition, 
then you must disbelieve the Bible*. We cannot be 
saved by the souls of our priests, but by our own 
merits. I cannot commit the food of my body to any 
other ; I must eat and drink for myself. It is the 
same with the Word of God. Christ never said, " I 
commit to the priests the reading of the Scriptures ;" 
but he ordered all to read the Scriptures. Remember 
what I say — Pope and Satan are perfectly equal. You 
will say it is too much. I will prove my proposition. 
The first corrupter of the Word of God in Paradise 
was Satan ; the first corrupter of the Word of God in 
the Church of Christ was the Pope — and therefore 
Pope and Satan are equal. But Satan is always bad, 
and never changing, and the Pope is always bad, and 
never changing— so my proposition is proved. All the 
last Popes have been prohibiting the Word of God, 
namely — Pius YIL, Leo X., Gregory XVIL, and Pio 
Nono. My conclusion for this evening is — I can say 
finally, look on the Continent ; what are the Papist 
nations without the Bible ? Nothing. What are the 
Protestant nations with it ? Look at Svidtzerland, 
England, Germany, France, the United States. With 
the Bible, and Bible alone, the American people will 
flourish ; and I will say to them, remember it was the 
Bible, and the Bible alone, which made your freedom." 

The speaker concluded his lecture by warning the 
American people against the insidious attempts of the 
Jesuits to subvert their national school system. That 
the Church of Rome is never satisfied. Grant them 
one thing to-day, and to-morrow they demand a second, 
and again a third, and so on until they have attained 
their highest hopes, and glutted their selfish ambition. 

His closing remarks were in answer to Archbishop 
Hughes's letter on the Madiai question, in w^hich reply 
he refuted the argument of the Bishop, that the 
Roman Catholic Church promotes the reading of .the 
Scriptures. 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. Ill 

This first lecture fully roused the cool and cautious 
Philadelphians, and from that evening, during his stay 
there, he was an object of constant attention. His 
second Lecture was thronged with an audience em- 
bracing a greater amount of intellect, character, and 
influence than is often gathered in one assembly. His 
Lecture on this occasion was on the Supremacy of 
the Pope. In his usual friendly, aiFectionate style, he 
began — 

" My dear brethren, the first proposition for us to 
solve this evening is. Does there exist any such supre- 
macy in spiritual matters ? The second question is, 
Was St. Peter appointed the head of the Church, and 
if Pio the Ninth is the successor, regularly speaking, 
of St. Peter ? 

'' We shall see by the Bible that spiritual supremacy 
is a folly. Was there a supremacy among the Apos- 
tles ? Yes, for Christ gave to Peter the key. But 
that meant merely the preaching, and was not given to 
Peter exclusively, but to all the Apostles. Christ, 
after his resurrection, said to all — ' I give to you the 
power of the key of heaven.' Therefore, the same 
words were equally said to all the Apostles as to 
Peter. Peter was rather impetuous in his manner, and 
when Christ asked if they knew who he was, Peter 
answered for them all, and therefore we have no 
supremacy at all. Peter, it is true, spoke first among 
others. He was rather an Italian apostle. Peter was 
answering to the question of Christ ; and Christ said 
to him particularly, I shall give to you the key of 
heaven, or the preaching of the Gospel ; and Peter 
was the first to preach. He was sent to preach ; and 
at present no bishop or archbishop can send the Pope 
to preach the Gospel. And, finally, you find Peter 
reproached by Paul ; but at present no man can re- 
proach the Pope, for if he is a weak man, and neglects 
the salvation of the whole world, nobody can reproach 



112 LIFE OF FATHER OAVAZZI. 

the Pope for his weakness and sin. This is the canon 
law, my brethren. 

" We have, therefore, no supremacy at all, for the 
supremacy of the Pope is the Word of God. The 
only text they have is that from the sixteenth chapter 
of Matthew. * Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will 
build my Church.' But I maintain that in this case 
Petrus IS not in the nominative case. But Peter was a 
man. If the church was built on Peter, the Church 
of Rome is no longer a divine church, but a human 
one. So, in another place, Peter is called Satan, and 
if the Church of Rome is built on Peter, it is a 
Satanic church ; and thirdly, as Peter was a perjurer, 
then if the Church of Rome was built on him, the 
Church of Rome is a perjured church. * Thou art 
Peter,' said Christ, ' and on this rock' — what is this 
rock ? Not Peter, but the confession of Peter. I 
defy all Roman Catholic divines to find a point of con- 
troversy in which all the holy fathers agree. 

" Now, what is the rock in the estimation of the 
holy fathers ? Saint Hilary, in the sixth book of the 
Holy Trinity, said, ' The building of the church is on 
Peter's confession ; this is the foundation of the 
church.' Saint Ambrose says, ' The foundation of the 
church is the faith of Peter, for it was said, " not to 
the flesh of Peter, but to the faith of Peter — the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it," and therefore the 
rock is not Peter, and therefore the Church of Christ 
is built, not on Peter, but on the faith of Peter.' Now, 
what is the rock? Christ himself is the rock on 
which the church was built. Saint Jeronymus said, 
* Christ is the rock, who granted to his Apostles to be 
called, also, rocks,' and on this he agrees with Augus- 
tine, for he says, ' Peter is from petra, rock, and not 
'petra from Peter ; therefore Christ said to him, " Thou 
art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church — 
on this rock which you have confessed ;" that is to 



«' 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 113 

say, on the living Son of God, for I shall build you, 
Peter, on myself, and not myself on you, Peter.' 

** After such explanation, J must conclude that the 
rock on which the Christian Church is built is not 
Peter, but Christ himself. Generally speaking, two 
heads in business are bad. It is necessary, for good 
rule, to have one head. Christ in heaven — the Pope 
on earth. Heaven and earth are very different ; and, 
perhaps, between Christ and the Pope there is a little 
difference ; and really between the precepts of Christ 
and the precepts of the Pope there is a little differ- 
ence. (Laughter.) And, therefore, I cannot conceive 
a church with two heads so different, and if I must 
exclude either of them, I prefer to exclude the Pope. 
Christ promised to be \vith the church to the end of 
the world, and that promise alone can support the 
church, and therefore I can, and must, reject the visi- 
ble head. The church is a body. Imagine a body 
with two heads — it must be a vile, bad body. The 
Austrian eagle has two heads, and oh, it is a vile, vile 
body. (Applause.) 

" We must have only one head, and we would be 
very well satisfied with one good head. St. Paul, 
figuratively and beautifully speaking, said Christ is to 
his Church what the husband is to his wife ; but in no 
code, ancient or modern, have you a vsdfe with two 
husbands. If a wife has another man nearer than a 
husband, the other man, what is he ? You know. So, 
by the intrusion of the Pope into the church as the 
second husband, what is he, my dear brethren ? If, 
by the New Testament, you cannot find good authority 
for the supremacy of the Pope, then, even if Pius IX. 
is the successor of Saint Peter, he is only by that 
Bishop of Rome. But was Saint Peter ever at Rome ? 
What proof have you to say he was ? No, he was 
not, because the Word of God was against the coming 
of St. Peter to Rome. His deeds are fully recorded in 
the Acts of the Apostles, but they don't say he was at 



J 14 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

Rome. St. Peter never was at Rome, because St. 
Paul, in writing, does not mention him at all, and when 
he wrote to the Philippians, from Rome, he said the 
only man who worked for God was Timotheus ; and 
therefore, by the Word of God, St. Peter was never at 
Rome. 

" But, they say, we have monuments at Rome 
which attest Peter's presence there. Cardinal Wise- 
man said, in his lecture, that the worship of the Chair 
of St. Peter in the Basilica at Rome, is evidence that 
he must have been there. But is it not possible that 
that chair was carried into Rome from some other 
place ? Oh, thank God, our good Cardinal Wiseman 
spoke very clearly. It was examined thirty years ago, 
by two French priests, who referred its manufacture 
to the fifth century, and thought it was the chair of 
some of the Emperors in the decadence of the Roman 
Empire. If this chair was made five hundred years 
after the death of St. Peter, then St. Peter was 
never seated on it. This is a mathematical proof, and 
at the present moment this chair is in the Vatican as 
an object of worship. Now, there is not, by the 
Divine Book, nor by the history of the church, any 
authority for the supremacy of the Pope. 

" But, my friends, there has been discovered another 
chair, which is said to be intimately connected with 
St. Peter. Upon a critical examination of the chair 
by eminent oriental professors, they saw upon the seat 
an inscription taken from the Koran ; but this, my 
friends, is not the only relic blended by tradition with 
the ministry of St. Peter at Rome. 

" The Church of Rome, remember, base their most 
cogent argument, upon the assertion that St. Petei 
was infallible ; and as the Pope was the successor of 
St. Peter, the Pope must of necessity be infallible. 

" But St. Peter was only a man, and possessed the 
weakness of men ; he denied Christ three times, and 
fell from his former estate^ and therefore he was not 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 115 

infallible. * But,' says the Church of Rome, * he 
was infallible in the last time, when Christ promised 
to him so clearly that " the gates of hell should not 
prevail against the church built upon this rock.'" 
This is true. The gates of hell will never prevail 
against the church ; but the church is not St. Peter. 
The rock is Christ himself. But they say that Peter 
is infallible, because Christ promised to be unto Peter 
the consummation of all good. But this proves only 
that Christ will be also with His Church, present to 
His Church, preserving and maintaining His Church 
against all temptations, and all snares of his ene- 
mies. So that the Scriptures do not prove at all that 
St. Peter was infallible. Poor St. Peter ! He was a 
very good man, and a strong, warm-hearted Apostle ; 
but he was also a man — he was a man when he denied 
Christ in passion. 

" Infallibility is a Divine attribute, and St. Peter 
was not infallible ; and therefore his successors are 
not infallible. But is the present Pope the successor 
of St. Peter? I maintain that the present Pope is 
not the successor of St. Peter at all ; because, in order 
to be his successor, it is necessary to suppose that St. 
Peter was a Bishop, and that he resided at Rome. 
But there is no evidence to prove that he was a 
Bishop, or that he ever was at Rome. This is the 
only conclusion at which we can arrive by Scripture, 
by reason, or by nature. In the Acts of the Apostles, 
where is traced the life of Paul and Peter, you have 
St. Paul at Rome, but St. Peter, never. Four instances 
are mentioned of St. Paul having been at Rome, but 
not one of St. Peter. We will not receive St. Peter 
at Rome by tradition, but only by Scripture. Bring 
us testimony from the Bible, and we will then be 
lieve it. ' 

'' Again, we are told by Cardinal Wiseman, who is 
looked on as the very best authoritj-, that St. Peter 
was at Rome, because the Chair of St. Peter is in 



116 LIFE OF FATHER GAVAZZI. 

Rome. This famous chair was made in Venice some 
four hundred years subsequent to the birth of St. 
Peter, and was transported by some merchants from 
Constantinople, so that, in the natural order of things, 
St. Peter could not very well have occupied it. 

" Remember, the present Pope claims infallibility 
because he is successor of St. Peter in the Bishopric 
of Rome. But remember also, that as St. Peter never 
was at Rome, therefore Pius IX. is not his successor. 
(Applause.) Is Pius the Ninth a Pope ? You are not 
certain that he is a real Pope. In order to have a real 
Pope, it is necessary to have a Bishop before ; and in 
order to have a Bishop it is necessary to have a 
Priest. Now, you are not certain that Pius IX. was 
rightly ordained a Bishop. You have only supposition 
on this point — not certainty. 

• " I therefore conclude that he is not the successor 
of St. Peter, and therefore he is not infallible. Christ 
said — ' I am the way, the light, and the word ;' and 
therefore Christ is the only infallible one. But to 
reduce all arguments of the Church of Rome to one, 
we have this argument, ' I am infallible because I am 
infallible.' (Applause.) This is the brief of their argu- 
ment. Furthermore, the Church of Rome says the 
Bible may be variously interpreted, and therefore is 
not infallible. Well, what do they propose to substi- 
tute for the Bible. Oh, the Brevarium, the Canon 
Laws, and the Popish Bulls. But if the people take 
these works as guides they will be led into darkness. 
It will be like the blind leading the blind — both may 
fall into a pit. According to the creed of Pius IV., 
the Church of Rome believes in the Bible, and receives 
its present interpretation as true ; still they deny the 
divinity of Christ, and his resuri'ection." 

But we have no room to continue these cursory 
sketches of the fugitive Addresses of the Father, and 
will no longer detain the reader from the regular series 
of Lectures, which he has carefully prepared and 



LIFE OF FATHER GAVZZI. 117 

digested, and the interest of which will be enhanced 
by the foretaste we have already given. 

After his return from Philadelphia, Father Gavazzi 
delivered one more Address in Italian to his country- 
men, and then departed for Canada, in compliance 
with urgent invitations received from there, and where 
he is at the moment these pages are passing through 
the press. 



Il 



LECTURES. 



LECTURES 



O F 



FATHER GAYAZZI. 

[REPORTED BY T. C. UlkW.] 



LECTURE I. 



THE IDENTITY OF ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 

My subject tWs evening is, Romanism and Paganism are the 
same. We will first speak about some things, so that we can 
distinguish in what especially consists the Paganism of the 
present Roman system. Before beginning, allow me to give 
notice to my friends that I will speak on Sunday evening at the 
Tabernacle. The subject here, to-morrow evening, wiU be an 
important one. We are to speak about our common friends — 
namely, the Jesuits, my dear brethren. I suppose that to-mor- 
row evening the weather will be a leetle more favorable. This 
evening is such a night as what we generally caU in Italy th© 
" conscience of the Jesuits." 

It is necessary to say that the Romish Church is not out of 
salvation, because she has Christ as the foundation. Certainly 
it was possible for the Popish system to cast away Christ. I am 
certain that at present Christ would no longer consent to be of 
the Church of Rome ; but it was not so easy to cast away Christ ; 
so that Romanism still ostensibly maintains its faith in Christ. 

6 



122 ' THE IDENTITY OF 

But it is not the true faith in Christ ; because in the Popish 
Bystem you know better than I can say, justification is not through 
Christ, but through the merits of mortal creatures ; so that the 
rule and principle of the Popish system is justification by works. 
But the apostolic powers say that our foundation is Christ. It 
is necessary to build upon this foundation, called the corner- 
stone. It is necessary to build on the pure Christianity of the 
gospel. If a man build upon this foundation, in wood and in the 
flesh, its walls will be tried by fire. This is the case with the 
Church of Rome. Upon Christ the Popish system erects all sorts 
of superstitions. Instead of building upon Christ the pure re- 
ligion of the gospel, it builds only the pure religion of ism$ — 
namely, pure Paganism. So that I am right when I say that I 
respect the individuals in the Popish system ; because, generally 
speaking, they know nothing of the work of faith in Christ, 
wherever the Popish system is dominant. 

But my Lard feelings are against the Romish priesthood^, and 
the Popish system^ which know very well that they build with 
wood and the flesh, and with bad materials, and not upon the 
true matter, namely, Christ. So that I say that the Popish sys- 
tem may possibly procm-e the salvation of many thousands ; and 
I hope that all the Christians in the Popish system may be 
saved. But as they make salvation dependant on works of su- 
pererogation, and through the commandments of the Church ; and 
as those works are too numerous, so it is very difficult to obtain 
eternal salvation in the Popish system — because, the more you 
multiply commandments, the more you multiply laws, the less 
the commandments and the laws are observed. Therefore, 
according to the best preachers among the Romanists — according 
to their very saints — only one in each thousand is saved. It is 
not my assertion ; but such a thing was said in a. moment of in- 
tense extasy, by St. John Chrysostom, preaching, not in a primi- 
tive Church of Christ, but in the Church which was thon 
becoming a Pagan Church. This was the conviction of St. Chry- 
sostom. And now it is repeated by the majority of Romish 
preachers, that only one in a thousand is saved among Romanists. 
Then my conclusion is a good thiug — is a Christian work — to 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 123 

driye the Romanists, my dear brethren, to engage in war, and 
battle against this faith. My system is, not to put peace, but to 
put division, between error and darkness, and light and truth — • 
between God and Satan. 

Having spoken something about my respect for the individu- 
als, and my firm belief that many among them may be and will 
be saved, now we will examine some of the reasons which show 
that the Popish system includes within it. Paganism. I assign 
especially three ; 1st. At the time of Constantine, when Chris- 
tianity was imposed upon the Pagan world, then Paganism intro- 
duced itself into the Church of Christ. Before this time the 
choice of religion was free; but after that time Constantine 
made laws, especially one — that nobody should be a soldier in 
the Imperial army without being a Christian. Then being a 
Christian was an obligation assumed merely to please the Em- 
peror, to enjoy the right to obtain power and success in the 
world. So that I firmly believe that this was the first epocha 
in which the Church of Christ became apostate from the gos- 
pel, and the true following of Christ. Therefore the great mul- 
titude of Pagans flow into the Church, bringing with them their 
Pagan customs, their Pagan practices, their Pagan idols. We 
have an example in the Inspired Book, where the beautiful 
Rachel became the wife of Jacob, and became exiled from 
Laban, and took with her the idols of her father, which she in- 
troduced into the house of Jacob. This same thing took place 
in the time of Constantine. The gTeatest part of the Pagans be- 
came Christians, but having no very strong persuasion of the 
truth of their new creed, and not having free choice, they 
became Christians, many of them, only in appearance, while at 
heart they remained Pagans, in secret worshipping their idols 
and their gods. But the church did not prevent this sacrilege. 

And now my second reason. I suppose that the Church at 
this time thought to fit the old fashion of Paganism into the 
garb of Christianity — but it was not able to eradicate such pecu- 
liar and deep-rooted idolatries; and I suppose that finally, the 
Church itself remained no more the pure Church of Christ.' I 
suppose there was a little vanity in this — a spirit of ambition — 



124 THE IDENTITY OF 

to have many millions of Christians, without looking to it that 
they were good Christians. For myself, I have an opinion thai 
it is best to have few and good, rather than many and bad. 
But this is not the opinion of the Church of Kome. 

If you feel that I have exemplified my general proposition, 
thus far, we will proceed to the other reason. 

The Eomanists have what are called " missions." They con- 
tinue assembled for twelve, fourteen, or twenty days, in the spi- 
ritual retreat to which they have been invited, and where they 
have preaching and religious exercises every day. At the end 
of the "mission,'^ the missionaries desire that all the people 
approach the table of the Lord's Supper, namely the sacrament. 
But in order to have a great many people, they " confess" with- 
out insisting upon all the conditions. They confess people gross- 
ly, with a large profession of the goodness of God, and that in a 
time of general remission of sins, they are easily pardoned. I 
have, from my own particular knowledge, known many hearty 
Christians, not satisfied with such a confession, come to me 
to confess again their sins, to render an account, and satisfy theu* 
conscience. What does this prove ? It proves that they were 
very easy confessors. It proves that, in order to have two thou- 
sand or five thousand people approaching the sacrament, these 
confessors passed over many gross sins ; and, secondly, it proves 
that they desire to secure public praise among the Protestant 
communicants themselves. That is what I call a little vanity. 
This is no longer the Christian primitive church, but is becoming 
the Pagan Church. The church was tolerating the introductioii 
of Paganism among Christians. 

But the last, and perhaps the strongest argument, is the con- 
Bent, or rather the approval, of the Church of Rome, by which 
Paganism was introduced among Christians. My dear brethren, 
do not suppose the Church of Eome, when she became apostate 
from the Church of Christ, was a blind and foolish one. Oh, 
no ! She knew very well that Paganism was profitable to the 
ancient priests ; and she knew, too, that she could make it pro- 
fitable to the new priesthood of Christ. So that, according to 
the great Fi-ench writer Bossuet — the real head, I suppose, of tlie 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 125 

Galilean clergy — when it was an independent clergy, the first 
clergy, perhaps, in Europe, but is so no more, because it is 
buried now in ignorance — a servile clergy — then, at the time of 
Bossuet, this great writer said, that "Christianity is all one 
piece ;" but Papacy is composed of many pieces, in many differ- 
ent ages, by many different men. So that you know by history 
the names and the words different Popes introduced into the 
church — especially the different Pagan ordinances. Therefore, 
I say, in the present Popish system, Paganism is the most profit- 
able aid in support of the authority — and the pocket — of the 
Popish priest. And, therefore, the conclusion of this part of our 
subject is — ^that, at the present day, the Popish Church is no 
more the church of the gospel, but is the church of heathenism. 
Thus is the gospel of Christ — the spiritual gospel of Christ — the 
divine gospel of Christ — " transubstantiated" into the flesh and 
the blood of the ancient Pagan practices. 

Now, in order to go on perspicuously in this lecture, do not 
look upon me in the light of a friend, or as an orator, but simply 
as a foreign lecturer. I shall now prove this proposition, under 
three heads — gods, priests, and things. I begin by a considera- 
tion of the gods of Paganism. The ancients had many hundreds 
and thousands of gods. According to St. Augustine, they had 
in the city of God — in Eome alone — ^not less than twenty-two 
thousand different gods. They have not only twenty-two thou- 
sand different gods ; but, according to martyrology, a hundred 
thousand gods, in the Church of Rome. That is to say, they 
have not less than a hundred thousand saints among the Eomans 
• — and these saints are really in place of the ancient gods of Pa- 
ganism. We have in the ancient Paganism the Presidses, gods 
which preside ; Isis and Osiris among the Egyptians ; Yulcan in 
Lemnos ; Belus for the Babylonians, and many others, among 
Pagans. "We have in the Romish Church, St. Denis, the patron 
saint of France ; §t. Stephen of Hungary ; and St. Patrick of 
Ireland. We have no nation in the Homish world which does 
not enjoy its particular patron saint. Among these patron saints 
of Paganism we have the tutelaries^ who preside over towns ; 
we have Juno, who was supposed to preside over Carthage; 



^26 THE IDENTITY OF 

Minerva over Athens ; and Apollo, who presided over Delplios. 
No town in ancient Paganism was without its patron god ; and 
now we have no town among the Romanists which has not its 
particular patron saint. My native city, Milan, has its San Carlos 
Boromio. Naples has its San Giovanni ; in short, no Romish 
town or city is without its patron saint. Among the gods of the 
ancients were the patrones — namely, the presiding divinity of an 
old tower or an old temple. We have the great Diana of Ephe- 
sus ; we have Venus in Patros ; we have Jupiter in Dodona. 
They had among all the ancient peoi)les deities called house- 
patrons, the Lares and Penates. There were in ancient Rome 
over twenty thousand of these. 

I have something upon this point to say of the churches here 
in this city. Every church in New York is consecrated to some 
particular saint. You have your St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Jude, 
St. Bridget, and I know not how many others. I have some- 
thing to say of this abuse, too, among Protestants. I am sorry 
to say that this innovation is becoming too much the practice 
among even Protestants ; I don't like " St. Mary," as a dedica- 
tion among Protestants. This is not to-day my subject, however, 
but it will perhaps be so another time. 

Now, if you should enter into the mass-houses among the Ro- 
manists, you would see many altars at which are celebrated dif- 
ferent masses — so that here, at this altar, Christ is offered up to 
the Father ; on the other side, Christ is offered to the eternal 
Father, translated into the flesh and blood of Christ. So that in 
the sanae church you have two, three, or four repetitions of the 
same rite, going on at once — ^four or five different Christs ! An- 
other altar is dedicated to St. Joseph, &c., &c. I have not seen 
any of the Catholic churches in this town — ^but I shall see them 
— I am not afraid. I was a day or two ago in Baltimore. My 
friends said, " don't go to Baltimore — there are so many Roman- 
ists in Baltimore." I did not fear ; I went to Baltimore. There 
I went into several Catholic churches, — some very good, some 
not very good — American style — one of them was dedicated to 
St. Paul. At the left hand of the enti-ance is the altar to the 
Virgin Mary, in marble. A marble statue of the Virgin Mary, 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 127 

mth. a marble baby in her arms — ^tliis is all. In another place 
fs another Virgin Mary, in picture, which opens its breast and 
shows the heart — the " immaculate'^ heart — of the Virgin Mary 
— ^in a picture. I say this is more than Pagan — because the 
Pagans had an altar dedicated to but one Juno, one Minerva, 
one Ceres, &c., whUe here are 4-^0 Virgin Marys on two differ- 
ent altars. Now which of these is the true one ? — the Virgin 
Mary in marble, or the Virgin Mary in picture ? This, I say, is 
going a little beyond Paganism. But I don't know but some of 
my auditors have been in Italy, where we have a church dedi- 
cated to Saint Nicolas. The guardian saint of this church is 
Saint Cherris (Ceres) ; and in the church are five altars, with 
seven pictures of the saint at each altar. 

Now to conclude this part of my lecture. "We have among 
the Pagans, what I shall speak of more fully another time — 
some rtiral deities — ^rustic divinities. Others were called semi- 
tales viales^ deities who presided over grounds and gardens. 
Among the Komanists we find the same thing — -not, perhaps, in 
America. In Protestant countries Komanists have more pru- 
dence — so that, as in our country, every church is dedicated ab- 
solutely to some man ; here, in order to deceive you, it is dedi- 
cated to God, in honor of St. Peter, or St.-so-and-so. So, also, 
in your country, you do not enjoy the saints of the garden and 
the field ; but in Italy, as you walk along the road, you see an 
image on every tree. The road — is it a railroad? No! No 
railroads in Italy ! But along the road side, wherever you find 
a tree, you see a little image of St. Mary, and a bench on 
which the devotees can kneel. As you pass, you take off your 
hat, in honor of the rural god. This is what I call Paganism in 
the church ; because, you don't find images of Chi-ist, and even 
not many crucifixes — ^but all images are of the Virgin Mary, and 
of different saints. Therefore, all are gods, instead of Christ. 
This is Paganism introduced into the bosom of the Church of 
Christ. 

But we have not only the ancient gods introduced into the 
Church, but our modern gods have even the names and attri- 
butes of their Pagan prototyfles — certainly not always, but in 



128 THE IDENTITY OF 

some instances. So great were tlie exigences of the Church, 
and so strong its desire to pardon and convert the Pagans, and 
turn them into saints, that we find among the Church such 
saints as St. Ceres (Cherris,) St. Diana, St. Faunus, St. Satyrus, 
&c. You know the attributes of these saints ! We have many- 
others — even St. Bacchus, the patron saint of the drunkards, my 
dear brethren! I said, in another lecture, the Komanists attri- 
bute special functions to their different saints. They have a 
saint for almost every distress and misery of human life. We 
have patron saints to protect us against the tooth-ache; a 
patron saint for the ear-ache ; for pain in the breast, the lips, 
and for every kind of human infirmity. These features, we 
shall see, are all drawn from the Pagans — -w^ho had their deities, 
also, for every function and accident of human life. I will quote 
an illustration of this, begging you, on account of its aptness, 
to excuse its ludicrousness. In ancient times there was a tem- 
ple dedicated to Eomulus, on the spot where it was supposed 
he was suckled by a wolf. ISTow on the anniversary of the dis- 
covery of Eomulus and Eemus, the nurses had a custom of car- 
rying their babies to the temple of Eomulus, and of putting 
them over the altar, so that Eomulus should become their pa- 
tron, and help them during their infancy. The poor nurses of 
Eome, when it came under Constantine, were in despair- 
having no longer this beautiful custom of bringing out their 
babies,, and displaying all their fine linen and dresses. In pity 
for the disappointment of the poor nurses, the Church of Eome 
gave them a new patron ; and instead of the temple of Eomulus, 
we have still the same identical temple, but it is changed in 
name, and dedicated to St. Theodoras, who is now the patron 
saint of babies, as Eomulus was before. So that, on the anni- 
versary of St. Theodoras you may still see a long procession of 
pretty nurses, with their babies, — which they put over the altar 
of St. Theodoras, that he may take them into his favor. I sup- 
pose that St. Theodoras generally consents to adopt these 
babies — however, I don't know, — it not being my business to 
be among the nurses. ^ 

I say, this is the same custom that existed in the time of 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 129 

Paganism: the same temple and the same practice still exist 
among the Romanists — and that, too, with the same power. 

Now, oh goodness help me ! if you enter any church, especi- 
ally in Rome and ITaples, in the neighborhood of the Vatican 
and the Bourbon Museum, you see tablets devoted to the me- 
mentoes of wonderful and miraculous cures performed upon 
poor people who believed. In the Pagan temples these memen- 
toes were, some in painting — more in brass — in the form of eyes, 
hands, lips, feet, presented to the ancient gods by those who had 
recovered their health. But, my dear brethren, if you enter a 
Roman Catholic Church, you will also see some eyes, arms, legs, 
breasts, &c., hanging on the walls, which have been offered by 
the devotees of the patron saint. What is the conclusion? 
"Why, that these are the same gods as those of the Pagan miracles, 
and that there is the same devotion to them among the Romanists 
as among the Pagans. But the ancient gods were also powerful 
in another thing — ^in apparitions. We have the great apparition 
of Castor and Pollux to the Roman general, in which they pro- 
mised a great victory, and a great victory followed. We have 
a similar apparition in the time of Pope Leo X, when King Attila 
was approaching Rome. We have another extraordinary appa- 
rition of St. Peter and St. Paul, with two drawn swords, ap- 
pearing against Attila, so that he was stopped from entering 
Rome. I know St. Peter and St. Paul never used swords ; but 
now that they are in heaven, they enjoy this privilege. 

The lecture this evening is only for the purpose of drawing a 
parallel between Pagans and Christians among the Romanists. 
We find that when an ancient Roman was desirous of becoming 
a god, he applied to a certain Julius Proculus, and said, "I wish 
to be worshipped by the Romans, and to be called Quirinus." 
And afterwai-ds Romulus became a god, called Quirinus. We 
read that, at the time of the Emperor Theodosius, Gamaliel, men- 
tioned in the Acts of the Apostles, was applied to by the high 
priest to make saints of Stephen and three others. The matter 
was referred to the Bishop of Jerusalem, and finally, St. Stephen 
was honored with a particular worship, by the numerous sect who 
buried him, with tears and lamentations. But they did not wor- 

6* 



130 THE IDENTITY OF 

ship Stephen at all. Afterwards Rome claimed the body of St. 
Stephen, and it was buried with that of St. Laurence, in Rome, 
in the basilica of St. Laurence. The people still believe that St. 
Stephen and St. Laurence sleep together in the same tomb. 
But when any one asks the Pope for permission to inspect the 
tomb, to see if really the two bodies rest together in the same 
sepulchre, — my dear brethren, the Popes never permit that 
sepulchre to be opened ! Why ? Because, they fear to find no- 
thing in the sepulchre. 

- That's not all. We have Dionysius ; we have the appearance 
of Hercules in Cythia, who left the impression of his feet on a 
stone — and this stone was worshipped in the ancient Paganism, 
with great devotion and ardor. What have we to correspond 
with this in Rome ? We have the stone on which are impressed 
the two foot-prints of our divine Saviour, at the moment of 
leaving this earth, ascending to the right hand of his heavenly 
father. We have many stones impressed with the feet of many 
saints — especially in Ireland. We have also in Italy, stones 
impressed with the feet of the Virgin Mary ; and she also created 
a new well-spring of water,- leaving her feet impressed upon a stone 
near whence it sprung. The people really believe it was the 
feet of the Virgin Mary which impressed the stone. It is so easy 
— not for me, because I have not the profession at command^it 
is so easy for a sculptor, in two hours, to make the impress of two 
feet in a stone, and to say the Virgin Mary descended and left her 
foot-prints beautifully stamped in the rock ! Among the great 
apparitions with the Pagans, was the appearance of harpies, as 
described by Virgil. In order to be a saint or god, among the 
Pagans, some supernatural apparition was essential. Sometimes 
an eagle was made use of, which was made to appear flying over 
the funeral pile of the dead emperor. This was a sign that the 
emperor was worthy of becoming a god. In the ancient times, 
the Pagan priests were really kind to the emperors, and after 
death, emperors always became gods. Ileliogabalus, Dioclesian, 
and the most horrible among tlie emperors, by the kindness 
of the priesthood, became saints or gods. I do not say this is 
tho universal cooe, because many among the ancients were good 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 131 

men. We have especially Pope Gregory YII., Hildebrand, and 
St. Pius V. ; but of these, we speak more especially of Gregory 
VII. I do not now speak of his law concerning the Countess 
Matilda. But the worst trait in him was his ambitious aim to 
become the high priest of mankind, and to give universal domi- 
nation to the Church of Rome. Pius YII. became a saint 
because of his cruelty ; and having many, many hundred victims, 
the Church of Rome found him worthy to be canonized. But 
in ancient times, to decide who should be sainted, was the busi- 
ness of the people — not with the Christians, but with the 
Pagans. In the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, canonization 
was done by the people. When Paracelsus deceived the people, 
they honored him with the title of saint. The maxim of St. 
Augustine is applicable to many others — that we honor with the 
title of saint, many whom we detest. The Romanist believes 
that in the time of St. Martin, the Bishop of Tours, in France, 
there was a sepulchre of a man called a great saint, who was 
worshipped by a special pilgrimage, from aU parts of Prance, 
and this man appeared — stating that he was not in heaven, but 
amongst the devils in hell — so that St. Martin preached against 
this man, because he was no saint at aU. But many worship as 
saints, now, those who are condemned to the flames of heE, by 
the church of God. To become a saint, now, is not so difficult 
as people may believe. A man has only to show himself to be a 
man of business. The question is only to have a hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars. If you have no hundred and twenty 
thousand dollars, and are the best Papist possible — even after three 
hundred years — you are only a stupid and obscure Papist. But 
if you have the hundred and twenty thousand dollars, you are a 
very good saint for the Church of Rome ! Canonization is all 
gratis ; but aU the prelates of Rome, cardinals, and the consultus^ 
enjoy many hundred pounds of good chocolate — they have many 
sweet sugar-plumbs. They have a picture of every new saint. 
They have many other things. But if you will prove a mu'acle, 
if you will prove yourself possessed of holiness in a heroical 
degree, it is necessary you pay for your canonization! It is 
expensive to become a saint! There were five or six people 



]32 THE IDENTITY OF 

made saints under Gregory's last canonization — so that if each 
one paid twenty-five thousand dollars, it amounted altogether 
to a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. They spent that 
sum when the Italian Saint Boromio was canonized — and when 
it was proposed to his father to make a saint' of another of his 
sons, he replied, " My good father, it may be a very good thing 
to be a saint — but another one in my family, and I should be 
ruined." So, between the Pagan and the Komanist, miracles 
are performed and substantiated. 

Now, to complete this part of my discourse, it is necessary to 
say something about pilgrimages. We make pilgrimages, as they 
do in India. We have great sanctuaries, and pilgrimages to 
them. I will not spend my words on a subject so clear; but we 
have the worship of images. I have one lecture, entitled 
*' Images." I wiU only show a few similarities between the an- 
cient gods and present saints. We have images sent, as if they 
had fallen, from heaven. We have the Palladium of Jupiter, 
and also many images that came from heaven. The image of 
the Virgin Mary was no work of men. It came directly from 
heaven. It is true, it is a very ugly image ; but the angel-artist, 
perhaps, had not learned sculpture of Oanova or Michael Angelo. 
We have also ancient images, clothed. Plutarch himself speaks 
of Dionysius. The images were dressed in different styles, and 
very fashionably, so that the Tertulians laugh at this practice, and 
say that their godships are dressed like ladies, in the best stuffs. 
If we go into Spain we may see the sanctuary of Loretto, where 
you may see the petticoats in linen, Avoolien, gold, silver, pearls, 
and every kind of stuff, embroidered by ladies and princesses — 
and even by the/ King of Spain himself. The good old King of 
Spain, who restored the Inquisition in 1821, to honor the Virgin 
Mary, instead of employing himself about the happiness of his 
people, embroidered a petticoat for the Virgin. I ask, is there 
not a perfect similarity between the ancient Pagan godships a#d 
the Roman godships ? In Dodona you have some sacred things 
moving miraculously about, and pilgrims followed religiously 
from place to place. 

Now there is a similar case in Romanism. Until the thir- 



ROMANISM AND -PAGANISM. , 133 

teenth century, the image of the Yirgin was satisfied with its 
home in Nazareth, and remained tliere in peace. " l^ow that 
Mahommed II. has conquered me," said this image one day, " I 
will go away;" and accordingly it set off, and on the same 
night, with hag and haggage. She travelled from Galilee to 
Dalmatia. After a few months, she again does not like her 
quarters ; the Illyrians did not suit her. " I will go to Italy." 
Accordingly, that same night the image crossed the blue Adri- 
atic, then deposited itself, house and all, in the valley of Loretto. 
But having no view from there, in a few days it deposited itself 
on the hill of Loretto. And now pilgrims from all quarters 
came to visit this travelled house and image. 

The great question was, whether this was the abode the 
Virgin had definitively adopted, or whether she would go else- 
where ; but the Pope solved that doubt by declaring that, of 
course, she would stay in his states, where she was, because she 
produced to the Papal revenues seventy thousand dollars in offer- 
ings, etc. So you see that the Eomanist miracles are but a 
repetition of the old Pagan miracles. Nay, even Catholic 
images, and attributes of saints and gods, are the same in both 
creeds. 

In both these religions we have pontifex major and pontifex 
minor — the Pope of Catholicism representing the High Priest of 
Paganism. Nay, their very costumes are almost the same, as to 
form and color. The Emperor Caligula was the one who in- 
vented the ceremony of having his foot kissed. The great 
Seneca rose against this custom, as degrading. The Pope, or the 
Vicar of God, offers his foot to be kissed, and it is a great favor 
to be allowed to do it ; and I once thought it a privilege to kiss 
the ugly foot of Gregory XVI. Christ never offered his foot to 
be kissed — therefore it is sure that this custom originates in 
Paganism, and not in Christianity. 

Prom Paganism we have priests, corresponding to augurs. 
"We have every description of priest represented by our various 
monks and friars, as the vestal virgins represented our nuns of 
Christianity. 

Tir Paganism, mendicant priests were as annoying and rapa- 



134 THE IDENTITY OF 

cious as in the present day — for Oicero proposes that for the 
good of the state they shonld he restricted to certain sects. 

There were missionaries paid, too, to go and instruct priests in 
priestcraft — just as now they are sent hy various Oathohc sects. 
There are vestiges in ancient Rome, in Herculaneum, and Pom- 
peii especially, of hollow statues in the temples, with traps 
underneath, admitting a priest, so that he might speak from within 
and deliver oracles, as though the statues spoke miraculously, 
as images are made to do in Catholicism. We have from Cicero 
and Dionysius the account that the statue of Diana wept at the 
time of a great calamity, and that the statue of Apollo Avept 
three days and three nights. We have it recorded, too, that the 
Goddess of Fortune twice audibly asked for a temple. All 
miracles performed hy trickery of priesthood, taught hy one to 
the other. 

So in Catholicism, the images of the Virgin shed tears at the 
approach of the first French invasion. 

The Virgin, too, moved her eyes in the sight of a whole multi- 
tude in Rome, at the time of this same event. All these things 
are easily managed, as none but the priests have access to the 
back of these pictures, hung up against a thick wall. All these 
manoeuvres are to increase the contributions of the faithful. 
For this purpose, too, to look more imposing, the priests study 
their dress. Christ sat down to the Last Supper in his own 
dress ; the Apostles preached in their ordinary dress. The Pagan 
priesthood had fine, fanciful and brilliant di-esses ; so have the 
Romanists, to the greatest excess, varying in color and material. 
We have green, black, red and yellow, cashmere, velvet, silk, and 
every species of gold and silver embroidery. Red is the color 
of the Holy Ghost, Wliite of the Virgin, and of all the sacra- 
ments of the church. White for the Sunday before Christmas, 
Green for the Sunday after Easter ; Black for death, and the 
souls in purgatory. 

The costumes for the great Pontifical mass are quite a sight, 
such as you can rarely see elsewhere. Your great national ex- 
hibition will offer nothing so gorgeous as the dress of the Pope. 
Your Crystal Palace is an exhibition of the industry of all na- 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 135 

tions ; but St. Peter's in the Vatican, at the time of the Pontifical 
mass, is an exposition of the Christian priesthood of all nations. 
All this is to aggrandize themselves. The dresses of the Jesuit 
College (del Gesu), present dresses of all colors, and are so rich, 
both in material and embroidery, that they stand alone. If the 
Christian religion, pure and simple as it is, appealed to the 
heart and reason of the people, it would not need this pomp and 
show ; therefore, this cannot be the pure worship of Christ. 
Ladies have fine and variegated dresses to amuse themselves, 
and to please others ; but then they are ladies, and the church is 
surely not to be treated as a lady. If the church were pure and 
simple, it would need no drapery to hide its harmonious forms ; 
its gorgeous raiments are put on to conceal that the Church of 
Kome is but a skeleton, made up of Pagan bones. 

Another similarity is in the incense and in the candles. This 
is a custom belonging equally to Paganism and Catholicism. 
It was the custom of the Pagan priests to light hundi-eds of wax 
candles before their idols. In Scripture the Egyptians are 
reproached for lighting candles : " Go ye, who light candles 
before your gods, because they need darkness and not light, for 
they have not eyes to see your necessities." 

Candles are lighted before the Virgin and the saints ; you pay 
for them; you buy them; but you are no richer. But the 
priests are ! Holy water existed among Pagans, as it also does 
among the Eoman Christians. We have holy father Tiber, 
Oceanides, Naiades, Neptune, and many other water and river 
gods. In India we have the river Ganges, an object of sacred 
worship ; and any one who can die with his feet in the Ganges 
is sure to go to Heaven. This is also the custom among Chris- 
tians. It is said that when St. Paul had his head cut off", he 
made three leaps, and in each place where his feet touched, there 
sprang up a spring of water. Now the people go to drink this 
holy water, and dance and amuse themselves in the same 
time. 

Now I shall speak of St. Patrick. The most absurd of ancient 
tradition did not equal that. Croesus presented two golden vases 
to the priests, so that they might serve to contain holy water, to 



136 THE IDENTITY OF 

be sprinkled around to expurge sin. In the Pagan temples this 
sprinkling of holy water was customary ; and now, in the Ro- 
man Catholic churches, the first thing on entering is the holy 
water. Great people dip the tip of their finger into this water ; 
some people, the whole hand ; and if you will believe me I have 
seen an unclean Irishman come and wash in the holy water. At 
a great festival, with so many dippings of hands, the water, dear 
brethren, gets to be as white and clear as — my cloak ! Yirgil 
teUs us that -^neas sprinkled the bones of his companions with 
water, as a part of the funeral service. This, too, is the custom 
at Roman Catholic funerals. It is used among the Pagans for 
exorcism — holy water is used among the Catholics against the 
devil. The Pagans used either salt or fi-esh water — the Roman- 
ists use either salt or fresh water. "We use holy water against 
all calamities, accidents, diseases, and sorrows. K you have a 
new coach, or a new anything, you sprinkle it with holy water. 
"We have a festival called the Festival of St. Anthony. He is 
the saint who protects you against fire. Here, your patron saint 
is your Insurance Company, or your good firemen, and they, too, 
pour on water. In Naples they make great use of him, for they 
have no companies there. He is the patron saint of all beasts 
or cattle — that is, he prevents disease among them, more parti- 
cularly of little pigs. Now, on the 17th January we have still 
the festival of St. Anthony in the Roman Catholic Church, the 
priest being dressed in full robes. Sometimes it is even a digni- 
tary of the Church, who is seated on a bench near the relics of 
St. Anthony, as the representative of St. Anthony, with a vessel 
of holy water near him, and his breviary before him. All the 
oxen, mules, asses, and horses, pass before him, decked out as 
for a fete ; and in Naples they have bonbons round their necks. 
The priest then gravely takes his book and prays God in behalf 
of these horses, mules, and little pigs; then he concludes by 
sprinkling the whole menagerie with holy water — and finally, 
with the relic (a bone of St. Anthony) gives the blessing to the 
horses, asses, and pigs, and by the intercession of St. Anthony, 
God delivers them from all evil, amen ! The asses, horses, and 
pigs, not being intelligent enough to kiss the relic, the priest ia 



ROMANISM AND PAGANISM. 13*7 

obliged to toucli them with it solemnly. This is even beyond 
Paganism. Holy water among Pagans was for man alone — • 
among Romanists, it is also for beasts. 

Now we have another resemblance in the talismans. Among 
the Greeks and Indians yon find the talisman hanging to their 
necks. So it is with the Eomanists — you have good Papists, all 
provided with amulets, rosaries, scapularies, relics, medals, espe- 
cially medals of the Virgin. In Paris they have a piece of con- 
secrated paper, supposed to preserve from di'owning, lightning, 
sudden death, &c. There are amulets against moral as weU as 
spiritual evils. 

The Romanists have no confidence in the occult existence of 
Christ, but put their faith in exterior objects — so that Roman 
and Pagan are on an equality here. 

I noticed that in England aU Puseyite ladies wore crosses on 
their breasts ; so that now I am going to attack the Protestants 
on this score, but Puseyites, in a short time, become Romanists ; 
Puseyism being the intermediate state to spare or lighten the 
shame of apostasy. The cross, a Romish symbol, is also a 
Puseyite symbol. I see it worn in the streets of New York, and 
I see by this that the enemy is entering into America. Popery, 
is entering here by seducing the eyes of the ladies. You may 
say it is only a fashion ; but I say, when you are familiarized 
with the cross, some other superstition may creep in ; and so a 
Puseyite feeling and Romanism will become spread abroad. 
When I was in Baltimore, I saw a cross on the spire of a Protest- 
ant church ; so there^s on a Catholic church. Where is the difier- 
ence? In one of the Churches, I also saw an image, and I 
asked, "Is it a Romish church?" "No — it is a Protestant 
chapel. This is a Puseyite chapel. The oflBciating pastor of 
this chapel was recently converted to Romanism." Then I 
understood all. 

I entered a Protestant chapel — I will not say whether in New 
York or Baltimore — and I found twelve statues of the Apostles. 
What did they do there ? They were certainly very badly done, 
if they were there for your edification. If you go into a Roman 
Catholic chapel, you will find apostles in stone. Remember, 



^ 



188 THE IDENTITY OF 

New York men, what happened some time ago. There was a 
Protestant chapel with all these emblems — and now it is a 
Catholic chapel. 

I shall speak again on this subject, because I am in New 
York, not' for myself, not from any feeling of anger, but because 
I am here to enlighten and to show Protestants their danger. 
Remember the words of one who knows the Romish system. 
Let the Jews have their Talmud, the Orientals their crescents, 
the Chinese their pagodas. Let the Popish Church have its 
crosses — but let Protestant chapels have nothing — ^nothing, 
because they have Christ, and the pure worship of Christ. 



THE JESUITS. r39 



LECTURE n. 

THE JESUITS. 

My subject this evening is the Jesuits. 

I. "We will consider the Jesuits with eegaed to them- 
selves. 

II. IX eegaed TO THE ChUECH. 
III^X EEGAED TO SoOIETY. 

R^einber that next week I shall give two free lectures at 
the Tabernacle, to the Industrial classes, and especially to Irish- 
men ; because I have been invited by the Eoman Catholic 
portion of them to do so ; and I expect that no people out of 
these classes wiU come, in order to leave room for these people 
who cannot pay. 

Some people entertain doubts of my intentions, and say, 
" You speak against Irishmen." This is a great mistake ; and is 
an unusually Jesuitical misrepresentation, because I have always 
spoken with respect of Irishmen, not only in America, but also 
in England ; and what I say in a lecture is true, and what all 
people, Englishmen and all, confess to be true. Scotchmen and 
"Welchmen in the United Kingdom agree that the Irish, for 
poetry, eloquence, and ability, are unequalled. What a charac- 
ter for a people in the state they are ! And they are so, because 
they are entirely under the dominion of the Eomish priesthood. 
Now, I have nothing to say against Irishmen; and if I have 
something to say against any one, it shall be against the Eoman 
Catholic priests of Ireland. 



140 THE JESUITS. 

Kext Monday week, I shall speak on the blindness of the 
Popish System ; and especially, I shall answer Cardinal Wise- 
man, in his last statement upon my Italy. Next Thursday, at 
the Tabernacle, all the proceeds will be devoted to Italian exiles 
who are expected here from Piedmont ; they are well provided 
for by the Piedmontese government. 

I see by one of the newspapers that all charitable people are 
invited to concur in this charitable work. I therefore shall give 
a .good example, and will devote the proceeds in behalf of these 
young and deluded persons. 

I beg to inform my audience, that by this donation I do not 
intend any slight to the Piedmontese government, which I 
respect so much. I merely wish to aid those whom the Pied- 
montese are unwillingly obliged to expel. 

Now I come to consider the Jesuits in regard to themselves. 

The Jesuit is a member of the Society of Jesus ; many of my 
auditors will teR me that they know some Jesuits who are gentle, 
kind, and good ; -that is true. I know many individuals among 
Jesuits who are very good people, their only sin is that tli^ aro 
Jesuits ; but, except that, they are good, charitable, pious, gentle, 
and loving. 

This is not the question. We speak not of individuals but of 
Jesuits, the Society of Jesuits. 

Let me give you a comparison. Suppose a very large and 
elegant pic-nic party, where each one brings a particular dish 
or a particular wine, and as usual in these parties, all the best 
fish, fowls, beef, venison, plum-pudding, pie^ and all kinds of 
things, together with wine and champagne, all excellent. But 
suppose the leader of the party, by a mere caprice, should take 
all these good things, and put them all together in a cauldron, 
and then should stir it together, and then serve up the mess to 
the party, how would that be ? Why, each individual article was 
good alone — all and each were very good — ^but all together, bad. 
So are the Jesuits. Some are fish and some fowl, and good 
at that ; but all together, bad, very bad. Therefore, in speaking 
of this subject, we speak not against Father Peter or Father 
Paul, but against Father Jesuit, because Fathers Peter and Paul 



THE JESUITS. 141 

may be good, bnt as Jesuits they cannot be good. Never good 
always, and everywhere bad, because they are Jesuits. 

Now they are bad in regard to themselves ; but some say they 
are moral. No religious body in the Popish system is so severe 
in their habits and practices as are the Jesuits ; that is true, very 
true. I have nothing to say against the morality of the, Jesuits. . 
The Pharisees also appeared very good in their exterior, they 
appeared as clean sepulchres, but inside they are filled with 
bones of corpses. So with the Jesuits — their exterior very good, 
very holy ; but beneath this exterior, they are full of all kind 
of immoralities and abominations, from the beginning till to-day. 
This Society of Jesus has ever been in the first degree of immo- 
rality, and so considered among all enlightened people. In the 
beginning, when they were allowed to extend and multiply 
themselves, the living correspondence of fathers and rectors was 
discussed, and they were expelled ; and, now, in our last crusade 
in Italy, the Italian volunteers entered Modina and despoiled 
thoj^llege of the Jesuits, where they discovered and preserved 
a large epistolary correspondence between the holy fathers and 
their secret lovers of the confessional and of the nunnery. This 
is the morality of the Society of Jesus ! And these are the ene- 
mies of morality most dangerous, because people believe in this 
external appearance of holiness, and are deceived by their appa- 
rent morality. But the most dangerous doctrine inculcated by 
the Jesuits is that of passive obedience. All historians and 
panegyrists of this society extol the obedience of tlie Jesuits, as 
the best kind of obedience. Never ! A man is a good Jesuit, 
only when he is no more a man. So long as. he remains a man, 
he cannot be a good Jesuit ; but when he becomes a stone, then 
he is a very good and perfect Jesuit. This is a great merit, 
people say — a great virtue. Before God, certainly, obedience is 
a virtue ; but before blind and stupid man, no ! Because God 
created man to be a man, and not a stone ; and, therefore, to 
become a stone, is not a virtue before God. The first gift of 
God is liberty ; and to voluntarily give up liberty, is to despise 
the word of God. God created man a reasonable being, to use 
his reason to promote his own salvation, and in behalf of hia 



^ 



142 THE JESUITS. 

brethren. Now, if a man renounce his own reason, he renounce* 
the gift and word of God, and therefore does not please God, 
but becomes a brute. You guide your horses where you will, 
because they are horses — because they are beasts; and when 
the Father Superior, and the Father Provincial General of tho 
.Jesuits guides this large body as he pleases, it is because this 
body of men are no more men but machines, and therefore are 
unable to please God. The virtue of obedience among the Jesu- 
its is most fatal to mankind and society at large. 

What do you call your regular army ? You call it brute force 
"Why ? Because its soldiers obey implicitly their generals and 
superiors, and thus destroy freedom and happiness of the people 
and nations, for at their bidding the freedom and happiness is 
destroyed. This is by brute force. 

The Jesuits resemble an army inasmuch as they hang togetheim 
and are formed into companies. It is an army without will, 
without reason, without freedom of discussion, whose only rule 
is implicit obedience, and unresisting submission to brut^Mjce, 
Therefore, as brute force is always fatal to civilized socie^Pratal 
to the true freedom of nations ; so the moral brute force of tho 
Jesuits is fatal to religious freedom, to the freedom of the Gospel. 
These Jesuits have, they pretend to say, for motive of action, the 
glory of God, " ad Dominum di gloria." Christ, too, promoted 
the glory of God; but the Jesuits go further; they are more 
enlightened than Christ himself — they not only promote the 
-lory of Govd, but the \ r ry highest glory of God. They go fur- 
ther than ChriVt hi^n'SHlf. Christ preached charity, honesty, 
justice, and rat. ' . roligior i order to glorify God. Tlie 
Jesuits preach meii^il reserve )n, perjury, lies, immoralities, 
regicide, to""' subvert society, in der to obey the vicar on earth. 
This is for the g-reatest glory ol rod. "We are satisfied to honor 
Christ after the manner of C^ .st, and to give him glory in all 
our acts, but when you go far • r than that, it must be you are 
no more in the just or right ^ ly, because we have an ancient 
proverb to the eflfect that all * k; -emes are dangerous, and when 
you do not cob -^g yourself v.th the glory of God, as Christ 



THE JESUITS. 143 

gives it you, you will perhaps prefer the greater glory of the 
Jesuits. 

Whenever you are in extremes you are in danger of immo- 
rality ; now this is the case with the Jesuits. They say they 
have fought for the Church, in support of the Church of Christ, 
but Cretin, Joli, Grasse, and other father Jesuits have repeated 
this little blasphemy, that the Church of Christ cannot subsist 
without the Jesuits. If you go to the confessional of the Jesuits, 
if you read the recent books written by Jesuits, if you go to 
hear the preaching of the Jesuits, you will frequently hear 
repeated, " The church cannot exist without the Jesuits." Did 
the primitive church of Christ exist by means of the Jesuits ? 
No ; not the true church of Christ; therefore, the true church 
of Christ can subsist without the Jesuits. But it is said, the 
times have changed, and men also have changed, and what was 
not necessary in the beginning of the Church is necessary now. 
When did the Jesuits arise? The Jesuits arose when papacy 
and the Pope were attacked by Luther and Calvin, and the 
reformers of that day, and as this church was trembling under 
these attacks, there arose the support of the Jesuits. 

But the church which was trembling under the attacks of 
Cranmer, Luther, Melancthon, was not the church of Christ. It 
was the church of Rome. Therefore, the Jesuits were instituted 
to support the Pope. And this is true. The Church of Rome 
cannot subsist without Jesuits, and if you destroy the Jesuits, 
you destroy the Church of Rome. 

Was it Christ who inspired Ignatius Loyola to establish his 
Society of Jesus ? No ! Because Christ did not recognise the 
necessity of such an institution in his true primitive church. 
But if the Church of Rome is apostate from the Gospel, if the 
church of the anti-christ is the daughter of Satan, then Satan is 
the patron of the Jesuits. 

What good have the Jesuits done in behalf of the Church ? 
They have corrupted it, they have corrupted its worship, its 
morals, and its faith ; they corrupted its worship after their 
incorporation into the papal system, and introduced aU kinds of 
superstition. 



144 THE JESUITS. 

We have the most idolatrous worship from the Jesnits; such 
as the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart of the Yirgin 
Mary, and what are called the Three Hearts of our Divine 
Saviour on Gol Gotha ; the Blessed Sacrament, the Transubstan- 
tiated or Consecrated water ; so that no superstition, no idola- 
trous worship, was for three centuries in the Church which was 
not originated by the Jesuits. 

They follow many of the practices inculcated in the books of 
Alfonso, the most fanatical and corrupt ever written. To read 
some of their books you would believe them to be the most 
licentious people in the world. 

Protestants are apt to think the Jesuits moral. According to 
their morality you may say yes or no, not according to the 
truth, but merely to yom* own personal advantage. They teach, 
that it is necessary to practise mental reservation. Suppose you 
were accused of going to murder a man, (I am going to illustrate 
mental reservation) " No, I am not going to commit murder" — 
because you were being taken in a carriage, or made use of some 
conveyance to get at this man you were going to murder. "Wo 
have in Latin double meanings to words — Volo^ is a word which 
in Latin has two meanings, xolo^ velle^ is to wish, volo^ volare, is 
to fly ; I can say, I, wish you to-day, Friday, to eat a chicken — 
you can answer, no, I volo non. But you may understand your- 
self to say, I do not fly. All anagrams are also instances of 
this double meaning. You can swear upon the Gospel, you have 
not committed this sin, when you did commit it under a mental 
reservation; and you may swear that you were not perjured 
when you swore that you did not commit it. It is really true 
that your words may give a wrong conviction, yet by your men- 
tal meaning, you are not forced to reveal, you are excused from 
perjury. This is a very elastic morality, this morality of mental 
reservation, when you are pressed to confess the truth and can 
only escape by means of mental reservation; yet this is the 
morality of the Jesuits. 

According to this morality, you, though a Romanist, here 
among Protestants can pretend to be a Protestant ; you must be 
a Jesuit, though in other respects, you have to look and act like 



THE JESUITS. 145 

a Protestant. You can with holiness and purity say and do as 
the Protestants do ; go to Protestant schools and read Protestant 
books, without lying or imposition. You do not deceive any 
one, for it is for the greatest glory of God and promotes prose- 
lytism. 

The last degree in the morality of Jesuitism is Father Molina's 
doctrine of quietism, which aids all kind of sin. The immoral 
tendencies of these teachings are permitted as necessary. The 
mind must be quiet and in repose with God ; if your mind and 
soul are fixed on God, and at the same time you rob your 
brother, you kill your father, or your wife, you have not com- 
mitted robbery nor murder (ad Domini gloriam). Quietism 
is merely putting this motto in practice. This is quietism. 
The Council of Paris condemned this doctrine of Molina as fatal 
to society, because he carried the doctrine to the extent of 
killing kings. It is said that many kings who opposed this 
theory became its victims ; but the Jesuits even declared that 
in everything the end sanctifies the means. All things are per- 
mitted as means of attaining a good end. St. Paul said that is 
not permitted, however good the object ; but the Jesuits say 
the contrary — do anything for a good end — commit any crime if 
you can efiect a little good ; as all good, in the opinion of the- 
Jesuits, consists in promoting the Jesuitical cause — even if, for the 
good of that cause, it is necessary to subvert, to oppress, to kill 
all Europe, and then to carry on a war in order to promote the 
advantage of the Jesuits. This is their code of morality. But 
the Jesuits are the greatest enemies against the purity of the 
gospel, and therefore against the true faith of Christ. 

I have said that the Jesuits were instituted to oppose the 
triumph of Luther and the other Eeformers in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. All the Jesuit has to do is to make war^to engage parties 
against Protestantism, called in their language a bad heresy, and 
ihe Jesuits have been faithful to their object. Prom the begin- 
ning they always opposed what they called heretics and heresy. 
This, then, is the point : what is heresy with the Jesuits is Chris- 
tianity in the opinion of Christ ; and, therefore, when Jesuits 
oppose Protestants as heretics, they oppose the primitive Chris- 

7 



146 THE JESUITS. 

tianity of Jesus. This is the aim of the Jesuits ; and in order to 
attain such an end, they have no distinctive costume, no special 
abode, no special worship ; they change according to circum- 
stances, so that you have Jesuits as Jesuits, Jesuits as Ligonsists, 
Jesuits as Passionista, Jesuitil^as Capuchins. So you have Jesuits 
' among the priests, you have Jesuits among the laity, Jesuits 
often in short dress, often in military di*ess. At one time in the 
dress of a magistrate, at one time in the dress of a policeman, 
and so on. Every day and everywhere you have Jesuits. Father 
Personio, the first Jesuit who went to England, went in the dress 
of a Spanish officer, and was received as such at the Court of 
Elizabeth, so that he was enabled to arrange the gunpowder 
plot. Father Garnet, another Jesuit who was at the head of 
the gunpowder plot, had, five different names, as appeared on 
his trial. Now recognise, if you can, the Jesuits among Ameri- 
cans. You think sometimes that you recognise the true charac- 
ter of the Italian, French, and Polish refugee, because he 
declaims against tyrants and tyranny, and against the Pope, and 
wears a large moustache. Yet often, my dear brethren, he is 
a Jesuit. 

Do you see one small, little, insignificant, poor fellow coming 
in ? You are welcome. He is not higher than Tom Thumb. You 
remember Tom Thumb, with large boots ; so this little fellow is 
more a postillion than a courier. Two great spurs in the boots, 
spectacles to the eyes, he looks as a Spaniard, but he speaks 
French. Come in, you are welcome among us. I have the 
honor to introduce to yon, my audience, little Tom Thumb, 
called' in New York the Courier of the United States newspaper, 
printed in the French language, and pretending to be the organ 
of the French population.* Oh ! my dear boy ! my poor boy ! you 
are the Courier of the United States, and you dare to say that I 
am wrong when I speak so loudly and so warmly against France. 
My naughty boy, I am not the Courier of the United States who 

* We have retained the peculiar idiom of the Father in this circumstance, 
thongh nothing can give an idea of the intense humor and irony of his manner 

and imitations, which convulsed the audience. The Father speaks of Mr, M , 

the Editor of the " Courrier des Etats Unis." 



THE JESUITS. 147 

was going to Paris in order to solicit the Cross of the Legion of 
Honor and the pension from the bastard Bonaparte. My naughty 
"boy, I spoke warmly and passionately against France, because 
when a man has witnessed two thousand brethren wounded and 
killed by a French army, this man cannot have any sympathy 
for the French liberticide nation. I spoke against France, but 
not against the liberal France, not against patriotic France, the 
minority of the French population. I spoke against the Franco 
which sold our liberty for a glass of champagne. You call 
yourself the organ of the French population. Oh! poor 
Spaniard, you are not the organ of the French population. 
Read, my little boy, read ! this — this is a true Frenchman — this 
is the great Quinet, the greatest professor in our age — Professor 
of History. This is Quinet — expelled from France by the Jesuits. 
His work on the Revolution in Italy, is dedicated " To the ex- 
iled Italians, as a personal expiation for the murder of Italy, 
consummated by Frenchmen." This is a Frenchman, who has 
spoken in this manner — this is a true Frenchman — and in Italy 
we honor such a Frenchman — and we honor the France which 
produced such a Frenchman. But remember, my boy, that we 
have no anger against you ; but I shall give you some advice : 
Don't announce yourself, henceforth, as the "organ of the 
French population," but ask to be received as the organ of Arch- 
bishop Hughes ! And don't call yourself any more the " Cou- 
]-ier of the United States," but caU yourself the Courier of the 
Jesuits throughout the United States. This Courier is an in- 
strument in the hands of the Jesuits, and maintained for the 
purpose of spreading their doctrines and theories. 

But there is a more dangerous weapon, still, of Jesuitism — for 
you, especially. And remember my words concerning it. The 
missions among Protestants are especially conducted by Jesuit 
females: because, where Jesuit men could obtain no hearing 
among Protestants, they endeavor to proselyte by means, of 
women. Whatever might have been the case ten years ago, 
there are now in this country thousands and thousands of nung, 
engaged in the work of proselytism among the Protestants. 
They are composed of all classes of women, and operate under 



148 THE JESUITS. 

all sorts of names. They are "Ladies of the Sacred Heart," 
"Sisters of Mercy," "Sisters of Charity," — but they are all 
Jesuit females, my dear brethren! Many dangers and many 
perils await you from such missionaries. Kemember — I don't 
know whether I touched on this point or not in a former lecture. 
In order to tempt Adam, the serpent made use of Eve, because 
the serpent, called in the Word of God the most subtile of all 
the beasts of the field, knew that with Adam he would have 
lost his time. He knew Adam to be too strong to be tempted 
by a beast. But this painted, beautiful serpent was pleasing to 
Eve. Eve fell ; and with great grace and fine manners. Eve 
tempted Adam — and Adam, as all men are apt to be beset with 
their wives, — poor Adam ! — ate the apple to please his wife — 
poor Adam ! who never would have yielded to the temptation 
of the serpent ! 

Now for the application. 

The male Jesuits, perhaps, would lose their time in preaching 
to Protestant people, to induce them to become Romanists. But 
when all these kind sisters come from Europe — such beautiful 
nuns — so elegantly dressed — so modest — speaking the French 
language so correctly — some of our Protestant ladies, very kind, 
very pious ladies, having great pretension to intelligence, drink 
in the words from the mouths of these nuns, and their doctrines 
pass into the hearts of these Americans. In time, they are trans- 
fused into the hearts of their husbands and children. This is 
the manner of proselytism with the nuns. And in England, 
especially among the great families, many become Eomanists 
through the persuasions of these Sisters of Mercy. Eemember 
my worfls — and remember, also, that in order to teach young 
girls in the capacity of governesses — to tend the sick in hospitals 
— we do not need any kind of nuns : because Protestant wives, 
mothers and daughters, suffice to instruct Protestant girls, and to 
assist in hospitals. 

But if this aim of the Jesuits is fatal to the true church, it is 
not fatal to Popery, my dear brethren. And this brings me to 
the second part of my subject — namely: that the Jesuits are not 
in support of the true Church of Christ. On the contrary ; they 



THE JESUITS. 149 

are against the true churcli ; and, till we have no Jesuits, we 
Bhall never have the preaching for the spread of the true 
doctrine of Christ. The Jesuits are the support of Popery. 
They are called, by Frederick the Great, " the grenadiers of the 
Pope." Yoltaire called them the "pioneers of the Pope." 
Another has called them the " Mamelukes of the Pope," because 
they are the especial body-guard who surround the Pope. You 
see, then, that they are a beautiful society ! The Pope cannot 
exist without the Jesuits, and the Jesuits cannot exist without 
the Pope. They mutually help each other. If you destroy the 
Jesuits, it will then be easy to destroy Popes and Popery. If 
you destroy Popes and Popery, Jesuitism will then be destroyed. 
This, then, is the conclusion of the matter : the hardy columns of 
the Jesuits and the Popes, are the foundations of the Temple of 
Baal. We invoke from heaven a Samson to embrace both these 
columns. Pope and Jesuit, and to give a good strong pull to them, 
i^ow, for the influence of the Jesuits in a social point of view. 
They are certainly fatal to society — to small as well as large 
communities, to society private as well as social. Private society 
we may consider as made up of mind, heart, and pocket. And 
against mind, heart, and pocket, the Jesuits are continually at 
work. As to mind, they monopolize especially the education of 
the young. But their schools and their education are very bad. 
No one who knows the vocation of the Jesuits in Italy, Spain, 
and France, as teachers, can deny this proposition. An instance 
or two, will suffice for the satisfaction of the American people. 
In my Italy, the Jesuits were always the greatest enemies of the 
great Dante ; and, as Dante is the Shakspeare of the Italians, 
without our Shakspeare, we have not the true blood of the Ita- 
lian nation. In order to suck the blood from the Italian nation, 
the Jesuits expelled from their schools the reading of Dante. 
In our last great reaction against republicanism, their first work 
was to expel from their schools all Greek and Latin classics. No 
Muse, no Cicero, no Tacitus, no Yirgil ! Why ? Because they 
are too much republicans — too much liberals. This is the reason 
why the Jesuits in Catholic Rome wish to have schools without 
the classics ; and instead of them, introduce their stupid Jesuit 



150 THE JESUITS. 

authors. Good school, that ! Classic people must come from 
Buch a school I From Jesuit teachers you can only expect Jesuit 
scholars. All instruction is excluded from the schools of France, 
also, in the same manner ; and the best proof of it is, that Quinet 
and Michelet — two of the greatest philosophers of the age — were 
expelled from the Academy by the influence of the Jesuits, in 
order to have the chairs of these professors for themselves or 
for their pliant tools. 

Another thing will prove to the American people, the fatal 
effects of Jesuitism upon society. It is said by a distinguished 
historian, " that in the first French Revolution, no Jesuit took 
part in delivering his country from despotism and tyranny." 
See, then, Americans ! what would have been the condition of 
things in your own case, if, in the time of your great "Washing- 
ton, you had had here the Jesuits, as numerously as at present. 
N'ot one of them would have taken arms to defend his native coun- 
try and free America from foreigners and foreign despotism. 
Such are the Jesuits, where they have the sole control of affairs 
among governments. 

And now they are trying to establish schools, also, in 
America — and many Americans patronize them, and advocate 
the granting of permission to the Jesuits to establish separate 
public schools, which shall share the public funds devoted to the 
support of public education. ,No, no ! They came to America, 
a few years ago, poor and humble, pretending to be missionaries 
of Christ. And now, since they have found in America a sleep- 
ing Protestantism, they increased in their pretensions, and in the 
boldness of their language, and rapidly extended their influence 
— so that now they dare to pretend to share the appropriations 
by the government for Protestant schools and Protestant 
teachers. But, if you continue on in this course, and remain 
dependant on the Romanists for teachers, in a few years 
America will present the same spectacle as now in England; 
fifty years ago Pitt and others proclaimed the freedom of teach- 
ing, and made an endowment from the public treasury to May- 
nooth. That appropriation increased to £32,000 sterling per 
annum. What were the results ? The teaching of rebellion — 



THE JESUITS. 151 

teaching against the ]^ws of the British Parliament — teaching 
against the obedience due to the Queen of England — teaching 
rebellion in practice, through these rebellious priests, educated in 
Majnooth — teaching civil war — riots in Paisley, in Limerick, and 
especially in Liverpool, at the Six Mile Bridge, and Stockport. 
This is especially the result of permitting Jesuitism a foot^hold 
in the national education. Devote a large sum to Jesuit schools, 
here, and in a few years you, too, will have enough of citizens 
to disobey the public law, and to trample upon your country and 
its Protestant faith, and to trample upon all human rights. 

But the best argument of all for Americans, to rouse-them 
from their sleep and apathy on this point, is the subject of dol- 
lars. It is a very genial subject! I read on board the steamer 
Baltic, when coming to America, a funeral oration preached in 
Boston, I believe, by Theodore Parker, in which I was struck, 
for the first time, with the announcement, that the American 
people were very fond of dollars. I do not despise dollars my- 
self — nor by any means do I despise you for loving them. But 
the Jesuits — they like dollars, too, my brethren ! And if you 
like a few dollars, the Jesuits like a good many dollars ; and they 
practise many skilful arts to make dollars. They have the art 
of the confessional — and, above all, they have the art to per- 
suade dying people to make their last will in favor of the Jesuits. 
And when they don't do such business themselves, they have 
their emissaries, in all conditions of life, who do it for them. 
In Milan, a few years ago, we had a Count Milario, who visited 
the noblemen about to die there, to induce them to leave their 
property to the Jesuits. In a few years he secured in this way 
six millions of Italian funds, in support of the Society of the 
Jesuits. This is what one of their emissaries could do. 

The Jesuits work very hard to accomplish their objects. I 
remember in a Jesuitical history, of the beginning of this soci- 
ety, the father rector of a college in the Low Countries, granted 
a passport to a man called Jacob, to defend and protect him 
from all attacks and evils in life, and be a passport to happiness 
after he was dead. He gave a hundred and forty thousand dol- 
Iws for a passport! And a hundred and forty thousand dollars 



152 THE JESUITS. 

is a little money, my dear brethren ! And with this passport he 
went everywhere without fear, because me Jesuits had guaran- 
teed its power. This is the way the society happens to be so 
very rich. 

One more instance of their craft. In my country they have 
long had a very large, unfinished church— and in order to 
finish the facade of this church, they persuaded a marquis to 
leave in his will a sum of money in this way : " this sum shall 
be left to the Jesuits, until they have finished the fagade." 
Three or four years were enough to finish the facade. How 
long, then, do you think the Jesuits enjoyed the income of the 
marquis ? A hundred and twenty-five years, my dear brethren ! 
And when the Jesuits were suppressed, in the last century, the 
facade remained just as it was ; and even to this day is not 
finished. But, mark you! this is only an example of their 
" mental reservation." At the final judgment this fagade will 
not have been completed ! 

Another example. Some eighteen years ago a man died in 
Naples, who had no sons, but who had a brother — a poor, 
honest man, and very celebrated for his learning and liberal 
principles, and with five or six children. In dying, the rich man 
left, in his last wiU, eighty thousand dollars to the Jesuits, and 
said, " I leave this money to the Jesuits, because they are so 
powerful, that they will never cede this money to my brother, 
whom I wish never to have it." And, in dying, he had conti- 
nually near him a Jesuit father, as a confessor. In his last will, 
he said, " I leave my especial malediction to my brother, and to 
the children of my brother." This is the morality of the Jesuits ! 
And if you would not be robbed, watch the Jesuits ! When the 
Jesuits, either openly or in disguise, enter among your families or 
your kindred, watch and prevent robbery there, and prevent the 
moral assassination of your sons and daughters ! 

But from domestic life, let us pass to a broad view of general 
society. You will find Jesuitism fatal, everywhere. If kings 
are Jesuits, Jesuits are subservient to kings and rulers. If kings 
and rulers despise Jesuits, they menace them, conspire against 
them. Do not mistake. Eemember that we have a true history 



THE JESUITS. 16S 

of Europe. I have spoken before of Father Molina^ and hia 
doctrme of killing kings. King John, of Portugal, was wounded 
by order of the Jesuits. The reverend father was in this plot. 
In the gunpowder plot we find three Jesuits — at the head of 
the plot was Father Garnet. The Jesuits are essentially abso- 
lutists. They are substantially a monarchy ; by their education, 
they prefer monarchical to constitutional and republican rule. 
And this is the reason why I fear the Jesuits in your America. 
When I look on the continent of the Old World, I find the 
Jesuits are favorites in Austria, in Tuscany, in Lombardy, and in 
the Eoman States. Wherever you have despots, you have 
Jesuits, under their favor and protection; and wherever you 
have liberal governments, you have Jesuits who menace them. 
I have spoken of the Jesuits in Belgium, in Piedmont, and in 
England. They are also in Prussia, which is the most liberal 
government for the Romanists, in all Europe. But for all that, 
the King of Prussia was obliged at last to expel the Jesuits, in 
order to obtain quiet in his kingdom, and to prevent discord. 

I have now something to say about you. I was in Italy in the 
Propaganda Fide^ not more than twelve or thirteen years ago. 
I knew at the time that the Jesuits were coming to America to 
proselytize its people. They used frequently to say, in our pri- 
'vate meeting, " We lose much ground in Europe, especially in 
Italy. Italy decreases in attachment to us, day by day. It is 
necessary, therefore, to regain this ground. We go to America 
to restore the loss sustained by Popery in Euiope." This was 
the reason why they came to America. But, my dear Ameri- 
cans ! Remember the Jesuits, and Jesuitism ! Remember that 
you will find Jesuits and despotism always united. But you 
cannot find a liberal people friends with the Jesuits. The first 
and rnost important thing I have to say — and I say it with great 
sincerity and earnestness — is what we said in Italy, in 1847, 
when we received the first gift of a liberal Constitution : " Out 
with the Jesuits from Italy !" And the Jesuits were everywhere 
expelled from Italy — from Naples, from Piedmont, from Lom- 
bardy, from the Roman States, from everywhere. And they 
don't come back again ! I suspect that many of these Jesuits 
7* 



164 THE JESUITS. 

have come to America, as many of them have gone to England. 
Many people in New York say they don't know anything about 
that — we do not care, and we will not interfere. My suspicion 
is now certain, because when I was in Baltimore, the first thing 
I heard from my Italian friends, was, that there were many 
Jesuits in Baltimore, and in Pennsylvania many dozen Jesuits, 
who were expelled from Italy — ^all speaking the Italian and 
French languages well. Therefore, what they said about making 
up their losses in Europe, here, is- true. And so you now have 
many hundred Jesuits working among you. Oh, too good Ame- 
ricans I Much too good Americans ! You believe they are 
working in behalf of American principles — in the interest of the 
American nation — to help to increase the American glory. Oh, 
poor, blind American people 1 The Jesuits only work for them- 
selves. They work for Kome alone. They work to increase the 
power of the Pope in America. Ko, no ! Believe what you 
will — conclude practically from such preaching. If I were in 
my native country — as, by the blessing of God, I hope to be 
before the end of this year — I should say to my countrymen, 
" To morrow, in this land, no more Jesuits I" And to-morrow, 
iii this land, would be no more Jesuits — ^no more king — no mur- 
derer. "I have never preached assassination and murder. 
But, go out ! We will pay your expenses." This is what I 
should say in my native country. In England there is a law in 
existence against the Jesuits. I plainly said to the English peo- 
ple, " Europe calls you a serious and logical nation ; but in my 
opinion, you are a very illogical people. You have a law against 
Jesuits. This law is in ' the Act of Emancipation' — and under 
this law, instead of being fourteen Jesuits in England, as before 
the law, there are now five hundred in spite of the law. My 
dear Englishmen, I do not preach persecution — but I preach 
legality and equal justice — which, if you practise, you will be 
called a legal and consistent people." 

But I can preach you something, in America, too. Before 
the formation of your Constitution, they were not free to work 
against your laws and republican institutions. Now, they are 
free. If, then, the Jesuits are here, to work against your laws, 



tkK JESUITS. - 155 

and Constitution, and freedom, watch tlieml Practise no 
murder, no persecution, upon them, but watch their move- 
ments ; and in the first instance that you detect the Jesuits really 
teaching anti-republican principles, — ^really teaching doctrines 
contrary to American freedom— if you find the Jesuits actually 
working practically against your Constitution, and against your 
freedom, after a clear proof of it, take the first opportunity, my 
dear Americans, to expel the Jesuits from your country ; and 
you -vvill be always certain to be free. 

Ho, ho, ho ! But this is what is called preaching discord I 
These are what are called "fatal lectures" — the lectures of 
Father Gavazzi — thus, this is what is called doing more evil than 
good ! We were so peaceable before his arrival ! We lived to- 
gether on such friendly terms ! This man has come to create 
discord among us ! But I come only to preach against Jesuits 
and Jesuitism. In England, people said, " You will find in Ame- 
rica, strong independence : you will find in America, a peopl© 
very fond of self-independence." And I find in America many 
and many Protestants without independence at all, but verily 
and truly, dependence upon Romanists. You have in your 
country some politicians who preach peace, and tolerance- 
leave all free. Why ? Why, they expect the votes of the Ro- 
manists. This is, really, " strong, self-independence !" And I 
find in America some — fortunately, not the majority — some 
public writers, some belonging to the public press, some editors 
and proprietors of newspapers, who speak always with great 
reverence of the Romanists, and keep silence upon the glories 
of Protestantism. They speak about all Papist operations and 
movements — not a corner-stone is laid, no sermon is preached by 
the Right Reverend So-and-so, but it is duly and respectfully 
chronicled. Ho, ho, ho, ho! Great "independence!" They 
fear to lose four or five cents. But, my dear brethren, why are 
politicians, and writers, and some newspapers, so subservient to 
the Popish system ? I do not speak so particularly about politi- 
cians—because they have no faith or religion at all. Christian, 
Jew, Turk, or Gentile, is the religion of a politician ; his only 
thought is for a place worth five, ten, twenty thousand dollars-— 



156 THE JESUITS. 

for an ambassadorship to London, Paris, or somewhere else. 1 
cannot speak much, then, about the poHticians. But what is 
the reason these people are so fond of the Romanists ? It is a good 
lesson to the Protestants,— politicians, newspaper-writers, and 
all, — to learn that Romanists everywhere are united. Therefore 
politicians and editors say, with great unanimity, " If I can pay 
my court to the Archbishop of New York, who can dispose of 
thirty or forty thousand votes, as all the Romish Catholic voters 
are united in Archbishop Hughes — I shall get these votes from 
Archbishop Hughes." So, they are subservient and truckling 
to Archbishop Hughes. 

This, then, is the important point : To note the union among 
Romanists, which makes their influence. The influence of Ro- 
manists depends, in a capital point of view, on their Union. 
Unite together, then, you Protestants ! and you will have the 
majority in your country. I was ashamed, in Baltimore, to find 
fifty thousand Romanists opposing and almost conquering a 
hundred and fifty thousand Protestants. Take the advice of an 
Italian exile ; you will do honor to your nation if you hear to 
me. No! Protestants! Remember always, I do not preach 
persecution of the Romanists ; but I cannot permit, in a Protes- 
tant country, in which Protestantism makes the freedom and 
glory of the people, — I cannot permit the people to be sacrificed 
to the Romanists. Americans, remember the last words of this 
evening. Your very glorious and very dear American Wash- 
ington did not fight against England in order to prepare the 
present generation to kneel at the feet of the Bishop of New 
York, or of any bishop in the universe. No ! Washington 
fought to prepare the Americans to be free, and to be a Protest 
tant people. 



WHAT 18 THE INDIVIDUAL. ETC. 157 



LECTURE m. 

WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE ROillSH SYSTEM? 

The subject of my lecture this evening is, What is the Indivi- 
dual in the Romish System? In reference to this question, I 
shall prove three things: viz., The Individual in the Romish 
System is a blind, a superstitious, a poor man — ^poor in the sense 
of poverty. He is a blind man, because blindness is produced 
by the teaching of the Romish clergy. He is a superstitious man, 
by the authority and under the influence of the Romish clergy. 
He is a poor man, because the authority of the Church produces 
misery. 

The Individual in the Popish System is a blind man, because 
blindness is produced by the teaching of the Roman Catholic 
clergy. Is it not suflficient to say, that in the Popish system the 
Individual is prohibited from reading the Bible ? Can the Papists 
deny that many and many among the ancient Popes, and aU the 
modern Popes, absolutely prohibited the reading of the Bible, 
especially in any vernacular tongue ? It is true that, in Protest- 
ant countries, the Romish clergy, in order to avoid the imputa- 
tion that the Church of Rome prohibits the reading of the Bible, 
allows a few Catholic booksellers to have the Douay Bible in 
their shops. But that is not the question this evening. My 
question is, whether, in the Popish service, the Bible is read 
every Sunday before the people, in the English language, in 
America, or in the French language among the French, or in the 
German language among the Germans? Not at all, my dear 



168 WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL 

brethren. In the Sunday service, you have mass-— sometimes 
sermon — but never Bible. This is not all. Your curate, yoiir 
parish priest, your father confessor — does he recommend you to 
read the Bible in private ? does he recommend the reading of the 
Bible in your families ? If he does, he insists on your obtaining 
it from the Romish bookseller. Does he recommend your read- 
ing it every evening before going to sleep? Does he recom- 
mend the Romish Catholic families to read a chapter from the 
Bible in the morning when they rise up? No, no! Neither in 
pubhc nor private, neither in pulpit nor confessional, never does 
the Popish clergy recommend the reading of the Bible. And 
there is a very good reason for that, my dear brethren. Because, 
if the Bible were read freely by all Roman Catholics, in a few 
years Popery would disappear from the earth. Therefore, you 
will never find a Roman Catholic priest guilty of such a suicidal 
policy. Read the Bible! liead the Bible! and, good-bye to 
Pope and Popery ! In order to maintain Pope and Popery, with 
all due respectability—to preserve it from all attacks, and from 
final destruction — the Roman Catholic clergy, very prudently and 
very properly, forbid the reading of the Bible. Now, in a few 
words, my dear brethren, are you enhghtened without the Bible, 
or are you blind ? Were you even the best philosopher in the 
world — were you the most scientific man — the most learned 
among all learned people — without the Bible you would be 
nothing, because, without the Bible, there is no Hght for man- 
kind. This is not a Protestant opinion merely, I beg to remind 
you. No — this is the opinion of David, in his Psalm, where he 
says that the Word of God is a light to our feet in our earthly 
pilgrimage. And that is not his judgment alone — it is also St. 
Peter's maxim. St. Peter said, the Word of God is the lamp 
which enlightens the hosts in darkness in this dark world. 
Therefore the Word of God alone is our light. If the people are 
without the Word of God, they will be without light. But the 
Roman Catholic people are without the Word of God — therefore, 
thft Roman Catholic people are without light. My Roman Ca- 
tholic friend, what can you say of your religion? Nothing — 
nothing ! Why do you believe ? What do you believe ? You 



IN THE ROMISH SYSTEM? 159 

say you believe the Church. Why do you believe the Church? 
Because the Church believes. But what does the Church 
believe ? What I believe. Why does the Church believe ? Be- 
cause I believe ! Well — in a word, answer me : What do you 
and the Popish Church together Relieve? Why, — we believe 
together I This is the answer, my dear brethren ! Because, 
among the Roman Catholics, blindness is a duty and an obliga- 
tion. Without this blindness nobody can be a good, reliable 
Roman Catholic^ Therefore, it is necessary to renounce reason 
to be a good Roman Catholic. Become a tree — become a stone 
—become an unreasoning beast — and you are a good Roman 
Catholic. 

But this is not the doctrine of St. Paul. He said, give a 
reason for the faith that is within you. Therefore, there is no 
faith, no religion, where there is no discussion. 

In order to have a faith based on reason, — in order to embrace 
freely and willingly, as a human being, a religion — it is neces- 
gary, beforehand, to be persuaded of the truth of this religion. 
It is necessary to discuss and examine a faith, a religion ; so that, 
after embracing it, you can give a satisfactory reason for your 
faith. If you embrace the Roman Catholic religion, because your 
father and mother were Roman Catholics, you are no rational 
believer — you are an unreasoning Catholic ; an unreasoning ani- 
mal. Therefore, I maintain that, without free examination, 
without free discussion upon the Bible, nobody can be enlight- 
ened in this spiritual work. This, also, is the declaration of the 
Word of God itself. 

Many among the Roman Catholics meet one on this point 
Avith the text quoted from the Gospel, to the effect that, " Who- 
soever does not obey you, does not obey me; and whosoever 
obeys you, obeys me." Before these words, Christ said, " As 
my heavenly Father sent me, I send you. If they will not obey 
you, they will not obey me." The apostles did not come in the 
same way as your Roman Catholic priests. They came, not ex- 
cluding the word of God, and all discussion on it ; but they came 
to offer a free choice to all to accept their preaching, or not. In 
other words, Christ came into this world, not to destroy the 



160 WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL 

law, but to confirm it. Christ came into this world, and 
preached to mankind — not saying, "go, obey blindly the priests 
— go, search the bnlls of the Popes ; the apostolic traditions-^ 
the pastorals of bishop and archbishop — the sermons of the 
parish priest." No! Christ came into this world, and said, 
"Search the Scriptures." These are the words of the Bible. 
Therefore, when Christ says, " If any one does not obey you, he 
does not obey me," that does not exclude the searching of the 
Scriptures — it includes it. And, after having searched the 
Scriptures, and comparing the words of the priest with the 
Word of God, and finding that they both correspond — then, if 
the people do not obey the priest, they do not obey God. St. 
John says in his first epistle, " Do not believe any spirit, but try 
all spirits." St. Paul said to the Galatians, " Examine my doc- 
trines — and if they agree with the Word of God, embrace 
them. If they do not agree, I authorize you to anathematize 
my words." St. Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Try all 
things, and hold to that which is good." The apostle says fur- 
ther, in the seventeenth chapter, that the brethren were praised 
before God for not obeying blindly the preaching of the apostle 
Paul, but regulating their belief in it by the inspired Word of 
God. Therefore, the conclusion is, that you cannot be good 
Christians while you obey blindly your priests. If you would 
be good Christians, try your priests, examine them, and com- 
pare their teachings with the Word of God. But this is very 
far from the practice of the people of the Church of Rome. 
She fears comparison with the Word of God ; and with good 
reason — ^because, under the control of the Word of God, there 
can be no novelty introduced into the Church. But, because by 
introducing novelty into the Church, the Roman Catholic clergy 
gain two things, influence and money — they, therefore, evade the 
Word of God. 

One more observation. I will ask the -Roman Catholic cause 
to deny, if it can, that the Roman Catholic Church does not 
forbid the reading of the Bible ? It is as clear as the sun at mid- 
day — in fact, it cannot be denied — because many, indeed the 
msgority of all the Popes have gone against the Word of God. 

7 



IN THE R.0M1SH SYSTEM? 161 

Now, why this hatred against the word of God? Please to 
answer me calmly, oh, Roman Catholics. If the Eoman Catho- 
lic be the true Church, if it were really the primitive church of 
Christ, the Roman Catholic Church need not fear the reading and 
authority of the "Word of God, because then it would, of course, 
agree with the Bible. If the Church of Rome opposes the read- 
ing of the Bible, it is a proof that the Church dreads the au- 
thority of the Bible, and, therefore, I must conclude that it is 
no more the Church of Christ. The Church of Rome does, then, 
fear the "Word of Christ, and this is the reason why the Church 
of Rome has always forbidden the reading of the "Word of God ; 
and thus it has so well succeeded in introducing her peculiar 
dogmas and tenets. "When you exclude the "Word of God, you 
reject the highest rule of faith — of discipline, of morals — but 
finding it necessary to introduce something about the Scriptm*es, 
instead of the Holy Bible, the Church of Rome invented the 
Apostolical Traditions, the Papal Bulls, the Canons of the 
Councils, the Sentences of the Holy Fathers, the theories of va- 
rious divines, and the wi'itings of the ascetics. 

My dear brethren, I beg you wildmeditate upon this maxim, 
which I would wish engraven on your hearts. 

On one side you have the "Word of God — you have the com- 
mandment of God to read his "Word, and thus to obtain eternal 
salvation, and the Word of God is all-sufficient. On the other 
hand you have the apostolic traditions — ^yes, but they are the 
traditions of men, the canons of the councils — still, from men 
alone ; you have the bulls of the Popes — ^yes, but from men ; you 
have the wi-itings of the Holy Fathers, but they also are men ; 
you have the sermons of your divines — ^yes, but they likewise are 
men ; you have the meditations of the ascetics — ^men, nothing 
but men. Oh, do not despise or neglect the Word of God for 
visionary follies, obeying the word of man ; and if your priests 
teach you to prefer the authority of the Church of Rome to 
that of God ; and if your priests forbid you to read the Word of 
God, and God commands you to read it, oh, Roman Catholics, 
disobey your priests, disobey your bishops ; disobey, above all, 
your Popes — ^but obey God, obey Christ. 



162 WHAT 18 THE INDIVIDUAL 

The main cause of blindness among the Roman Catholics is the 
prohibition of reading the Bible. This prohibition of discussion 
— logical people ! — is their obedience and their faith ! 

As a second point, flowing from ecclesiastic authority, tiiis 
blindness among Roman Catholics arises princiaUy from employ- 
ing the Latin language in their liturgy. It does not come within 
the scope of my present lecture to prove what I shall prove at 
Metropolitan Hall on Tuesday ; namely, that some things said at 
a late consecration here were absurd and false. 

I will only say now, my dear Roman Catholic brethren, that 
you who do not read, who have no knowledge of Latin, who 
have not in your possession an English translation of the Latin 
worship, my dear Roman Catholics, do you know anything 
about your Latin worship ? When you pray to the Virgin in 
Latin, with Ave Maria, what do you know about Ave Maria in 
Latin? When you say the Lord's prayer, "Our Father," 
"Pater noster" — what do you know about Pater noster? 
You say, " Maria, ora pro nobis" — do you know what you say? 
You know nothing about the words jou say or the person you 
say it to. Your mass in Lmn is cold and unsatisfactory — ^how 
much of it do you understand? When you come to the chm'ch 
of St. Patrick or the church of St. Xavier, what do the priests 
translate to you from their mass in Latin. Nothing. (Great 
manifestation of approl)ation and disapprolation. The Father 
begged Ms friends to desist applauding^ as the time was passing.) 

I know when I was in my country, sometimes I enjoyed myself 
by going into the Italian churches — Catholic, of course — (there 
they are all Roman Catholic churches) to hear the people pray- 
ing in Lalin. It is a source of great amusement ; no theatre, no 
exhibition, can present such a comedy, because the people know 
nothing of Latin, when they are blessing the Sacrament. 

The ancient people said to the Apostles, pray in Latin, that 
we may understand ; but now, the Italians do not understand 
anything about it ; therefore, your worship in Latin, is against tho 
word of St. Paul, who forbade praying in an unknown tongue ; 
because, the heart could not be touched by words it did not 
comprehend. The Roman Catholics leave the church as they 



IN THE ROMISH SYSTEM? 16'3 

entered it, witliout profit, without moral or spiritual advantage, 
with cold hearts, with uninstructed and unlearned minds ; and, 
therefore, one of the main powers of the Church of Eome to 
maintain blindness is to keep up the Latin worship, so that the 
people may continue in ignorance ; and this is the reason that 
among Catholics, if you ask them the motives of their worship, 
the reasons of their faith, among ten thousand you will not find 
one who can give you a reason, because their worship is in 
Latin; in an unknown language, and with this unknown lan- 
guage the Koman Catholics maintain their obscure cabalistic 
teaching. 

Now, the last point to prove ignorance and blindness among 
the Roman Catholics is, that the priests take pains to prevent 
their getting instructed. In my native country it is not extraor- 
dinary that the people live in darkness, and cling to their preju- 
dices, because they live among Eoman Catholics ; but in Protest- 
ant countries, a Roman Catholic can enlighten himself, and by 
discussion conclude even in favor of Romanism; by discus- 
sion, by conviction, by reading newspapers and the Bible, by 
attending lectures to enlighten their minds ; but if after discus- 
sion and examination, they become Protestants, then they are 
right, for they have done so upon mature reflection. 

And yet you do nothing of this kind — the Roman Catholic 
priest forbids all research, all examination. I can speak from 
my own experience in Italy, when we preached for liberty and 
freedom, oppressed and enslaved by the priesthood. My peni- 
tents were forbidden to come to hear me, or to hear my poor 
friend, Bassi, who was shot by the Austrians at Bologna. 

The priests forbade it, and the timid of conscience dared not 
disobey. To my surprise, I find the same here in the midst of a 
Protestant country. "When I was in England, many Catholics 
were forbidden from attending my lectures, and here, too, the 
Roman Catholic priests are trying to prevent it, by public 
notices from their pulpits, that their people must not come. 

My answer is a simple one. If I am not only an apostate but 
& devil, a real devil, but without horn or tail, my dear brethren, 
it is quite right that they should forbid people coming. If I am 



164 WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL 

speaking lies, give the Eoman Catholics leave to come, and thus 
to confirm themselves in their apostolical Popish Church, and 
all its doctrines, because lies and falsehood cannot destroy the 
Popish Church, and, therefore, no danger threatens it. If I am 
only a humbug, there is no danger — a humbug is not dangerous. 

But if I speak the truth, and they prevent people coming to 
hear my lecture, that is a sign that the Koman Catholic priest- 
hood is more astute than people believe, for they forbid them to 
hear me that they may not hear the truth, for then their power; 
founded on lies, on error, would be-tlestroyed. {Hisses and cheers 
of such continued violence^ that the Padre could not proceed.) 

I hope the ladies will not be afraid — some hissing is nothing, 
let it pass, let us make no trouble by replying ; it is disgraceful 
that three or four people should disturb so large an audience of 
Irishmen ; I am afraid the noise may be, in public opinion, attri- 
buted to Irishmen. I appeal to the Irishmen to sustain me, and 
to be calm, and not join in the riot — I know it has been said 
that Ireland is a savage country. Now to escape this imputa- 
tion ; do so, at least, now, before an American audience ; show 
them that Irishmen are no longer under the control of the 
priests. 

Irishmen, prove yourselves gentlemen, in America. I appeal 
now, to the Irishmen to obtain peace, do not let people go 
away, and say, they were Irishmen who made this disturbance. 

Do you think, my dear brethren, that I am to be frightened 
by hisses? they fail in doing this entirely. {Great applause.) 

Now, the second point of my lecture is, that the Popish is a 
miserable system; because, it supports the superstition of the 
people; and, because, it makes use of that superstition to 
increase the veneration of the people for the clergy. My dear 
brethren, this is a fact; there is an ancient saying, that the 
more a people are uncultivated, the more bigotted they are, and 
the more their veneration for the clergy increases; and, there- 
fore, the influence of the clergy increases in proportion. The 
Roman Catholic clergy, after blinding the people, claim for 
themselves the privileges of divinity, so the Catholic clergy, sup^ 



IN THE ROMISH SYSTEM? 165 

ported and maintained in college, encourage superstition in order 
to be worshipped instead of God. 

"Where are the Roman Catholic clergy worshipped as God ? 
In Ireland. 

In Germany, certainly not. But in Ireland the priest is as a 
God, aye more than God. I know that in Ireland some say if our 
priest look sternly, unpaternally, and unfriendly, then we have 
to fear heU, we are afraid of going to the devil. And if a priest 
stood before our door, and gave us a blow, we should fear the 
malediction of heaven. My dear Eoman Catholic brethren, fear 
nothing, and believe me, fear only for your pocket, for in order 
to redeem you from your fear, the priest will tell you if you will 
pay for a mass, he will redeem you from hell. But the venera- 
tion for this clergy, everywhere, especially in Ireland, is main- 
tained by the firm belief that the clergy is really as God. 

In Italy, however, we are less bigotted, we respect our priest 
through fear of the inquisition — ^no more. I know in my coun- 
try a few priests who have, and who deserve, a high reputation, 
and of whom it is said they are holy men. But they are so very 
few, that when they recognise his merits, the Italians call him a 
holy man. We are more sincere, because, when in our country 
some of the priests do not conduct themselves properly, have not 
the reputation of great morality, the Italians say openly, this is 
not a good priest. 

In Italy the priests do not try to hide their immorality, but in 
Scotland and Ireland they strive to hide it. I supposed that here, 
too, the Roman Catholic clergy would have been prudent and 
cautious, but I find many live in open scandal, in the face of both 
Protestants and Catholics. Their flocks believe their priests 
similar to God ; and when these scandals come out against them, 
the people say no, no, it is untrue, he is a very holy man ; and 
thus, by superstition, the Roma^i Catholic priesthood live in the 
constant indulgence of license and immorality, at the same time 
managing to sustain the reputation of purity and holiness. 

But, my dear brethren, what kind of superstition could be 
made to prevail among the Romanists, if they had freely at hand 



166 WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL 

the "Word of God ? then they would know that most of the prac- 
tices of their priesthood are designed only to make the people 
miserable slaves. Among these superstitions, permit me to men- 
tion one. I promised to expose the principal superstition of Ire- 
land. I refer to the traditions concerning St. Patrick. The 
Eoman Catholic clergy do anything they please with the people. 
What do you believe concerning your saint? He was, it is true, 
a great saint ; I acknowledge him to have been a great leader, 
a great Christian patriot, very different from your modern 
bishops, bishops of Ireland, who are all tyrants and despots with 
their flocks ; but their principal point of attack upon the people 
is through the people's veneration for St. Patrick. The Irish 
are the best of the United Kingdom, for hand and heart ; for I 
am acquainted with many Irishmen, Protestants and Eoman 
Catholics, and I can, therefore, say for myself, that I found this 
people like my own Italian people, warm-hearted and noble- 
minded. So I say, what a pity they are crushed by the Roman 
Catholic priesthood, who dare impose upon them such supersti- 
tion. Now this is said in the Latin breviary of St. Patrick. I 
read it in order to show you what kind of superstition has been 
imposed upon Ireland. They say that St. Patrick repeated daily 
the whole of the psaltery, with the canticles, three times each 
day ; worshipped God on his knees three hundred times a day, 
and each hour signed himself with the cross. The night he 
divided into three parts. In the first he made three hundi-ed 
genuflexions, in the second, immersed in cold water, with eyes 
and hand raised to heaven, he repeated aloud fifty psalms, and, 
finally, slept for a short time on a stone. The breviary goes on 
to say, that St. Patrick was the founder of the Irish Church — 
that he consecrated in Ireland three hundred and sixty-seven 
churches, and more ^han three hundred bishops — and that he 
preached every day, and also besides toiled, having his daily 
bread to get by the work of his hands. 

Now, brethren, I have a little calculation to make, and as an 
American is a man of business, I think he will appreciate it. In 
order to pray through 150 psalms it is necessary to spend twelve 



IN THE ROMISH SYSTEM? 16Y 

hours and thirty minutes ; for the canticles, one honr and a half; 
for the hymns, another hour ; then three hours and ^ half for 
three hundi*ed genuflexions ; one hour for signing the cross ; pri- 
vate prayer three hours and a half — so that for aU this devotion, 
performed by St. Patrick, we have twenty hours and a half every 
day. I suppose he slept three hours and a half, making thus 
twenty-four hours of each day. Now, my dear brethren, where 
had the saint time to establish 367 churches, and to work for his 
daily bread, besides consecrating 367 bishops ? We know that 
in ancient times, as now, there were only twenty-four hours in a 
day. What do you conclude from this? You must conclude 
that this legend is an imposture ; and when the Irishmen pray 
to St. Patrick, because he prayed 150 psalms every day, they are 
a superstitious people, blindly believing their priests, and grossly 
mistaking their St. Patrick. The inference from all this is the 
same as as that indicated by the proverb, " You will know the 
lion by his mane." Is it not true that in Ireland St. Patrick has 
two purgatories — the purgatory of water in this world, and 
the other with fire in the next. It is the grossest imposition 
ever practised. This purgatory is in Loch Derg, Donegal county. 
It is the Red Loch. We have pilgrims going to the convent of 
St. Patrick. The pilgrims ask his blessing 1^ the prior, and then 
going before the altar of Stt Patrick, kneel, pray, and then 
walk seven times round the chapel ; then they go to the pene- 
tential beds, in which it is said the Seven Sleepers of ancient 
times slept. They kneel, and pray, and walk three times round 
each bed. After that they go to three or four stones in the 
midst of the lake. At the first stone they kneel, pray, and walk 
three times around it. At the second stone they repeat this 
ceremony, as also at the third and fourth. Then they proceed 
again to the chapel and pray to the Virgin Mary. This is the 
first penitential work, and it is necessary to repeat it three times 
every day — at sunrise, noon, and sunset. The prior then takes 
these men and shuts them up, without light, or food, or water, 
for twenty-four hours, in a cave. On emerging from this con- 
finement, they are stripped naked, and made to go into the watera 



168 WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL 

of the lake to wash theu' bodies, especially their heads, in order 
to show that they have washed away their sins, and after that 
they have no fear of purgatory ; for it is said by the monks, and 
especially by the prayer-book, that after performing such a peni- 
tence, they will surely escape purgatory in the other world, or, 
at least, get off with a short penance. So powerful is supersti- 
tion in Ireland. But if you have money, you need not go 
through this penance ; you can hire a substitute, and send him 
to wash himself for you, and carry to you the absolution for all 
your sins. My dear brethren, is not this an absurd superstition 
— this water-purgatory of St. Patrick ? What good can this pur- 
gatory achieve? Why, it can wash Irishmen, who sometimes 
never wash in all their lives. {Hissing.) 

ITow this is the kind of superstition upon which the Eoman 
Catholic clergy obtain the veneration of the people ; and it is this 
veneration which leads to the last portion of my lecture, which 
will treat of the authority of the Eoman Catholic priesthood in 
Ireland over the poor. What are the Eomanists in Ireland? 
What are the people before the priests ? The priest is aU. The 
poor people in Ireland, they are very blind, infatuated people ; 
they work, and toil, and live in misery, in order to maintain in 
luxury their priesthooa. This is the life of the poor people in 
Ireland, and this the exalted portion of the priesthood. But 
it is said that it is necessary to maintain this power, in 
order to maintain this class, who know the truth, so as to 
explain it to the people. My dear brethren, the means em- 
ployed by the priesthood are two, fear and persecution. They 
intimidate the 'men, and by this intimidation they succeed in 
always standing in the position of God. I speak on this point 
from experience, because I know all the arts of the Eoman 
Catholic priest, which they practise. In your America, in your 
New York, you had some time ago a young fellow — the people 
said of him, he is a talented man. He spoke many times in 
your city against the despots of Ireland ; he spoke mostly to 
Irishmen, to enlighten them about their superstition and their 
slavery. Now see what happened to him. The priests calum- 



IN THE ROMISH SYSTEM? 169 

niated him and persecuted him, and he was obliged to yield, 
and he knelt" to the priests and asked their pardon, and noAv he 
is supported by the priests. This is the way with the priests ; if 
they find a weak heart they calumniate him, and try to crush 
him ; but, thank God, not all are dependent upon the priest, and 
not all have a soul to sell to the Eoman Catholic priest. Thank 
God, that some Irishmen and some Italians will maintain their 
independence against the priest, even though they are forbidden 
to preach the gospel of Christ. 

When any one secedes from the Eomish Church they perse- 
cute their victims unrelentingly, but when some leading Protes- 
tant joins the Romish Church, the Protestants mention the fact, 
and then it is forgotten. This is what I call a Christian system, 
true Christian charity ; calumnies cost nothing to the Roman 
Catholic priesthood ; and in order to support their Papal system, 
they have lately laid its foundation in lies and calumnies. 

I would speak on a matter which happened some months ago, 
but I perceive that the ladies present are alarmed at the mani- 
festations just now, and I will defer it till Friday, when I beg 
they will not come. I shall then give it to those I allude to, 
and if the priests send spies and perturbators in order to prevent 
the second free lecture they will lose their time. 

Now, in conclusion, I shall speak about myself. My dear 
brethren, I do -not fear what they can do, I fear only public 
opinion and the judgment of God ; beyond that I fear nothing ; 
therefore I disclaim some reports that were made of my last 
sermon ; do not mistake my mission, I am not here to, please any 
one, but only for God, the Truth, and the Gospel. Do not be- 
lieve, then, that I am here to preach an American gospel, and 
then that I will go to Italy and preach an Italian gospel, differ- 
ent from the one I preach here. I am not responsible for reports 
of my speeches, because I speak very bad English, and I often 
fail in conveying my meaning. I am sorry for it* and I pity the 
reporters. If, therefore, any one condemns my mission froru the 
reports he reads in the newspapers, he will commit a great error. 
"When my lectures shall be published by my authority, then I 
shall stand by what I say. 

8 



ITO WHAT IS THE INDIVIDUAL 

People attack me because I have spoken against temperance, 
and against woman's rights, and I am accused of saying to my 
countrymen, "Don't go and join temperance or woman's rights' 
societies." I respect woman's rights, but not in the pulpit. I 
have St. Paul on my side, and when you can answer St. Paul, 
then I will admit women into the Chui'ch. 

I stand here now to oppose these calumnies ; and I firmly 
deny them, and, with all the strength of my heart, I call the 
Irish- American newspaper a liar, — and some of the writers in 
the Irish- American newspaper, liars. Among other lies, they 
charge me with calumniating the Irish servant girls in Protestant 
families, in order to deprive these poor people of the privilege 
of entering Protestant service. 

Oh ! coward liars ! I never said such a thing ! J have the 
courage to sustain this denial, before this audience and before 
the world. I did say, however, that in England — in London — 
they have a monastery belonging to the Sisters of Mercy, in 
which Roman Catholic girls are educated, for the purpose of 
sending them among Protestants as Jesuit chambermaids. They 
are spies, and operate in behalf of the Jesuits. This is true, 
and I can maintain its truth. But it is necessary to pos- 
sess the logic of the editor of the Irish- American, to draw 
anything from this to set Protestants against the Irish girls. I 
said in my first lecture, that I respected individuals. I had two 
years in London, myself, an Irish girl as my servant, and I was 
well satisfied v/ith her services. Therefore, I have nothing to 
say against Eoman Catholic girls, as individuals; but, I have 
against Roman Catholic girls educated in Russell Square, as emis- 
saries of the Jesuits. And, therefore, when there are leading 
articles, and stupid letters, written against me on this point — 
and also a little advertisement inserted, saying, "Don't go to 
hear this man, who preached against the poor Roman Catholic 
Irish girls," I^have a right to say, you, Irish- American, are a 
liar, and a liar in support of your archbishop and your Popish 
system, which cannot subsist without lying. 

Kow, my brethren, receive my last words for this evening. 



IN THE •ROMISH SYSTEM? 171 

Irishmen, you have worked and toiled for the freedom of your 
country. But remember what I say: — Ireland never will he 
free, till Irishmen are emancipated from slavery to their priests. 
Irishmen ! free yourselves from your priests, and you will also 
free your country. — Amen ! So mote it be ! 



172 THJS INFALLIBILITY OF THE TOPE. 



LECTURE IV. 

THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

My subject this evening is, The Infallibility of the Pope. I 
shall prove that it is against scripture, against reason, and against 
history. 

In my lecture next Monday I shall speak of the blindness of 
the Popish system, and shall answer Cardinal Wiseman in his 
last lecture in Leeds, and a certain priest in New York, who 
asserts that Roman Catholics are well instructed in their faith. 
The infallibility of the Pope is an old subject, but far from being 
useless. It is necessary to return to this subject in order to 
prevent the introduction among Protestants of pseudo-infalli- 
bility and Popish infallibility, so that this lecture will profit both 
Catholics and Protestants in America. This infallibility is a 
point of faith among Romanists ; although, if you talk to Roman 
Catholic theologians, they will assert that it is not a point of 
faith, and that it is not absolutely necessary to believe or think 
of the infallibility of Rome, to secm-e salvation. 

But the priests say this to educated people, particularly being 
in a Protestant country ; but in Italy I never heard one word 
against the infallibility of the Pope. No priest ever admits a 
doubt of it. In Italy we believe in the infallibility of the Pope, 
and we are told that unbelievers are heretics, and are only to be 
foimd among Protestants ; so that when I say that infallibility is 
one of the most important doctrines and tenets of the Church 
of Rome, I am only speaking the exact truth. Now it is neces- 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 173 

saiy to examine from what som-ce the Eomanist derives this 
infallibility. We shall find that the same origin and the same 
text quoted in support of the supremacy, are also quoted in sup- 
port of his infallibility, and the chief of these is the general 
ground that the Pope is infallible because he is the successor of 
St. Peter. 

Now we will investigate this point, and ask first, "Was St. 
Peter infallible? If not, how can his successor be infallible? 
But the Komanists reply. There can be no doubt St. Peter was 
infallible, because Christ endowed Peter with infallibility ; and 
when Christ said unto Peter, " Peter, Satan will tempt you, but 
I pray my Heavenly Father that your faith may be preserved," 
therefore, Peter, the martyr of faith, was unchangeable, immu- 
table, and, therefore, infallible. But Satan thought otherwise. 
He thought him accessible and not immutable, so he tempted 
him, and Peter really fell, denying liis Divine Master three times, 
and therefore Peter was not infallible, but rather, for the time, was 
an unbeliever, though only apparently. 

I shall prove that all the Christians in early days were called 
apostles, or rather apostates, when they sacrificed to the heathen 
gods, even by merely throwing incense on the fire at the altar — an 
exterior sign of apostasy, which the Christian church thus quali- 
fied, whatever might be their internal faith. So that when Peter 
denied his Divine Master three times, he was an apostle or apos- 
tate in the opinion of the Jews, to whom he thus denied Christ. 
If Peter had not denied his Divine Master, but supported him, 
Christ's sufferings might have been mitigated. Peter then really 
was an unbeliever, that is, wanting in faith for a short time. 
Was he infallible, then? Was he infallible the last time, when 
Christ promised him that the gates of hell should never prevail 
against the Church ? That the gates of hell will never prevail 
against the Church, is true ; but the Church is not Peter, for the 
rock on which the Church is built is not Peter, the rock is Christ 
himself. 

The Church was typified by Christ as a rock, and Simon being 
the greatest and first supporter or advocate for that Church, 
added the name of Peter (or Petrus, the Latin of rock or stone) 



174 THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

to Ms name of Simon ; thus he was merely Simon, the supporter 
of the Church, Christ's Church, and not the church or Petrus 
himself; and it is against the Church of Christ, called allegorical Ij 
the Petrus} that the gates of hell cannot prevail, and not against 
the Apostle Peter. Christ spoke of the Church, and not of the 
man ; and therefore if there is any one infallible, it is the Church 
and not Peter. 

But, say th^e Romanists, if you do not like this, Christ also 
said that he would be with Peter to the end of all time. Now, 
in this case, Christ also meant the Church, and not Peter ; there- 
fore, this does not prove him infallible, he nor his successors, but 
proves simply that Christ will be till the end of time with his 
Church, sustaining and maintaining his Church against all snares 
of all enemies ; so that the scripture does not prove at all that 
St. Peter was infallible. Poor St. Peter was a very good man, 
a warm-hearted, zealous apostle ; but he was also a man, and 
only a man. He was but man when he fled from Christ in his 
passion. He was but man when he denied Christ. He was but 
man when he did not assist Christ in Golgotha. He was but man 
when by his conduct he scandalized the Jews. He was but man 
in many instances — a pure man, no doubt, but not infallible, 
because infallibility is a divine attribute, and then it is impossible 
to err in anything. If, then, St. Peter was not infallible, how 
can his successors be infallible ? 

Now for the second question, "Is the Pope the successor of 
St. Peter ?" If St. Peter was infallible, the Pope, as his succes- 
sor, was infallible. I maintain that the present Pope and the 
others, his predecessors, are not the successors of St. Peter. 
Why ? Because, to be a successor of St. Peter, it is necessary 
to suppose that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome, which he never 
was. It is necessary to suppose that he was permanently pre- 
sent in Rome ; but St. Peter was not Bishop of Rome, and was 
never at Rome in his life. This is the only conclusion at which 
we can arrive by deduction and by history. He never was at 
Rome ; because, in the Acts of the Apostles, you have St. Paul 
in Rome ; but St. Peter, never. When St. Peter spoke of Baby- 
lon, he alluded not to Rome; and when the Papists say that 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. iTS 

Babylon really was Kome, they refer to the prophesies of Reve- 
lations, which are not yet accomplished ; and maintain that the 
Babylon of Revelations is the present Rome. Again — we can 
very positively infer that St. Peter never was at Rome, from the 
fact that St. Panl, in four instances, writing from Rome, never 
mentions St. Peter as being there. What is to be inferred from 
the silence of so charitable and pure a writer as St. Paul? — 
when, besides, in the whole of the IlTew Testament, you cannot 
find any allusion to St. Peter being at Rome ? You should not 
believe his presence in Rome by tradition, nor by tales — but 
only by the Holy Book. Prove by that Book, if you can, the 
presence of St. Peter at Rome. But, my dear brethren, the pre- 
sence of St. Peter at Rome is against all history. "What monu- 
ment have we to prove the presence of St. Peter at Rome ? 
The monuments pointed out for this purpose are the same which 
prove some other superstitious beliefs, such as the Well of St. 
John, in which mysterious appearances, &c., are supposed to 
occur. But they are all mere tales. 

But we have, it is said, the Chair of St. Peter at Rome. The 
Chair of St. Peter proves the presence of St. Peter at Rome ! 
My dear brethren, in the Church of St. Mark, at Venice, is the 
Chair of St. Peter, which he used when he was bishop of Anti- 
och — and it is called the Antiochian Chair. Now, we have this 
chair of St. Peter at Rome ! Notwithstanding that St. Peter 
was never at Rome. But they tell me that the chair existing at 
Rome, is the chair of Mahomet, belonging to the sixth century 
— ^five or six hundred years after the death of St. Peter ! Then 
there is the chair of the Bishop of Antioch, transported to 
Venice. So that, possessing the Chair of St. Peter is no proof 
that he himself was ever at Rome. But, another thing: the 
chair is not St. Peter's chair at all, but is a Mahometan chair, 
with two or three sentences from the Koran inscribed on it. 
Now, as Mahomet did not live in the time of St. Peter, and as 
the Koran was not then written, it follows that this cannot be 
St. Peter's chair, but a real Mahometan, Turkish chair. So much 
for the puerile argument of the possession of the Chair of St. 
Peter, at Rome ! " The Chair of St. Peter," says Cardinal Wise- 



176 THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

man, " is the best proof of the presence of St. Peter, at Eome.'' 
Cardinal Wiseman, like a new Goliath, arose some time since in 
London ; and about the same time there arose, also, one leetle 
David — a female David, — ^Lady Morgan, who in a book, doing 
the part of the sling of the ancient David, gave a fatal blow to 
Cardinal Goliath "Wiseman. This book showed that, Cardinal 
Wiseman had made a great mistake. Poor Cardinal Wiseman ! 
But he is excusable, because he is a cardinal, and cardinals may 
make mistakes without any imputation against a priest of the 
Holy Church. This little female David, in her book, proved con- 
clusively that the Chair of St. Peter was a chair belonging to the 
sixth century — so that this chair was created several hundi'ed 
years after the death of St. Peter — and could not, therefore, 
have been the Chair of St. Peter, bishop of Rome. If you have 
no other argument to prove his presence in Rome than this, you 
are in a sad way, indeed. Oh ! believe me, the presence of your 
St. Peter at Rome is a gross imposture! And if St. Peter was 
never at Rome, the present Pope, and all his predecessors, are 
not infallible — because they were not the successors of St. Peter. 
Remember, that the present Pope claims infallibility on the 
ground of being the successor of St. Peter, at Rome. But, St. 
Peter never having been at Rome, Pius IX,, cannot, therefore, 
be his successor. And, even, if Pius IX. is the successor of 
St. Peter and the rest of the Popes, he is not infallible. In 
order to be so, it is necessary, at least, to be Pope. Now, is 
Pius IX., a Pope ? I say, is Pius IX., a Pope ? Everybody will 
wonder at this — everybody having alv/ays heard that Pius IX. 
is the Pope, and that, as Pope, he is the successor of St. Peter. 
You are not certain, however, that Pius IX., is really the Pope. 
In order to constitute a real Pope, it is necessary to have a 
real bishop, to ordain and consecrate him. In order to have a 
bishop, you must have a real priest to lay hands on him. In 
order to have a real priest, it is necessaiy to have a real 
Christian baptism. Is Pius IX., then, Pope, after all ? You are 
not certain : and why ! In order to be really baptized, in the 
Popish system, it is necessary to know the intention of the bap- 
tizing priest. If the priest administering the water, has not the 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 177 

intention of baptism in his heart, the infant is not baptized, 
though he goes through the process. Had the priest the inten- 
tion of baptizing Pius IX ? You suppose he had — but you are 
not certain : consequently, when Pius IX. was made priest, in 
order to receive him as priest, it is necessary to know the inten- 
tion of the priest who baptized him. You suppose his intention ; 
but you are not certain. Is it absokitely known that this priest 
was regularly constituted a priest ? Pius IX. was afterv.^ards 
made a bishop : but he could not be a bishop without having 
previously been made a priest : he became Pope, because it was 
supposed his ordination as a bishop was substantially right. 
They suppose it was, but they have no proof ; so that you have 
no certainty that Pius IX. is really a Pope. You cannot have 
any certainty about it. Therefore, where is his infallibility? 
An infallible Pope cannot exist by supposition. He cannot be 
an infallible Pope, because an infallible Pope necessarily requires 
ordination, and if he is only supposed to be a true Pope, he can- 
not certainly be the successor of St. Peter. Pius IX., then, nei- 
ther as Pope, nor, as the successor of St. Peter, can claim infal- 
libility ; because the Scripture does not warrant the infallibility 
of the Pope. The only thing, at all clear fi-om the Bible, is this 
emphatic sentence of David — each man is a liar, but God is 
true, and the assertion of Christ was for himself alone, ''I am 
the way, the life, and the truth." Therefore, the only infalli- 
bility proved from the Word of God, is for Christ alone, and hig 
infallibility shall be maintained. I have given you the texts 
said to be in support of the infallibility of the Pope ; but I allege 
that they are in support of what I say — the infallibility of 
Christ. They mean to say, then, that the infallibility of the 
Pope is proved by the infallibility of the Church of Eome. Is 
this a good argument in logic ? To be witness and judge at the 
same time is good logic ; but it is necessary that you prove the 
infallibility of the church, not by the church, nor by the Pope, 
but by the Bible. If you do not, oh ! my dear church, you can- 
not prove any infallibility. Now, it says, we have texts, but 
we know that these texts you bring forward do not at all prove 
your infallibility. But the Church says, I am the only inter- 
8* 



lis THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

preter of the Bible, and I say tliat they prove my infallibility ; oh, 
it is a very easy manner of proving things, to have always issue 
or loop-hole. The Ohm-ch of Rome, whenever it finds an oppo- 
nent, is apt to argue and reason in a labyrinth or in a circle. 
In order to prove their infallibility, it is necessary to have the 
Bible ; my infallibility proves the infallibility of the Bible, and 
the Bible proves my infallibility. Oh ! oh ! it is a new thing, it 
is really an art, all these Jesuitical mental restrictions. What is 
the argument of the Church of Rome ? I am infallible because I 
am infallible ; but the Church says, if you deny the power and 
authority that I have to interpret the Bible alone, in the great 
variety of interpretation which can flow from the Bible, you will 
find yourself in a dark and intricate labyrinth. So that they 
will have it that the Ghm-ch must be the interpreter of the 
Bible, because it is necessary to have a guide in the interpreta- 
tion of the Bible ; and to read honestly and rightly the Bible, it 
may be necessary to have a guide, I allow ; but this guide is nei- 
ther the Church nor the Pope — this guide is the Bible itself only. 
And, therefore, do not introduce the Church into this affair — an 
affair of conscience ; this is a private affair between man and 
God, between the conscience and soul of the Christian and the 
Holy Ghost. 

Now, in order to obviate all objections, the Church of Rome 
said that the Bible is subject to a great variety of interpretations, 
and therefore the Bible cannot be an infallible guide ; but, in- 
stead of the Bible, what do they propose to offer to the people 
by the Popes ? Why, the canon law, the buUarium, the canons 
of the councils, etc., etc. Now the Canon Law is a work com- 
posed of 20 vols., in folio ; the Bullarium is a work composed 
of 24 vols., in folio. The Canons of the Councils is a work com- 
posed of not less than 45 vols., in folio ; this makes nearly ninety 
volumes in folio, instead of the Bible ! If the Bible, inspired 
by God, and containing his will and law, is subject to so many in- 
terpretations — why, ninety volumes in folio, composed by one 
thousand different men, with a thousand different intentions, in 
many different councils, will they not have any difference of in- 
terpretation ? In the canon law, bull8, and council^?, will the 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. l79 

Cliristian find himself equal instruction to other Christians? 
Ninety volumes in folio ! The Papist's theology is a little worse 
than the tower of Babel. Now, if aU these volumes in folio must 
be the light of mankind, by these blind guides the people will be 
conducted to a precipice ; and as we speak of a multitude of phy- 
sicians giving a swift passport to the other world to the sick, 
when one good physician will cure, so in the Church of Rome 
the multitude of guides will lead to the confusion which reigns 
among Roman Catholic people. 

Permit me now to notice what I call the vanity of the Church 
of Rome, in calling herself the only interpt-eter of the Bible. 

According to Pius I. the Romanists received and belived in 
the Bible in the sense received and believed by the Church, and 
the Church receives its interpretations from the unanimous in- 
terpretations of the Holy Fathers of the Church. What is the 
conclusion? why, that the Romanists have no interpretation, 
and therefore have no genuine application of the Scripture at 
all. Why ? Because you cannot find the unanimous consent of 
the Holy Fathers given upon any one doubtful point, and on the 
points you caU obscure, they have given no opinion ; but on all 
that is clear they have descanted a great deal. Where enlight- 
enment is needed, the Holy Fathers have found their learning in- 
EuflScient ; but when, my dear brethren, have ever the Fathers 
been unanimous? Have they ever been unanimous upon the 
Incarnation of Christ, the Divinity of Christ, the Trinity, or the 
Resurrection of Christ ? Do they not then pay a tribute to the 
divinity of the Bible, and allow and agree that it is not the 
Holy Fathers who have made the Bible, but the Bible whic"h has 
originated the Holy Fathers ; therefore, the Bible does not need 
the Holy Fathers, because the Bible is suflicient to itself and in 
itself, without any aid from any Holy Fathers. When we want 
their assistance we have it not, because there is no disputable 
point of the Bible that the Holy Fathers have unanimously 
interpreted. 

Whenever they have interpreted they have done it diiferently ; 
when one is on one side of a question, the other is on the other side, 
and thus you have no unanimous consent to one interpretation of 



180 THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

the Bible, tlierefore the Church of Kome has no interpretation 
of the Bible. On this point Father Cyril and Father Basil said 
to the peopl^, Do not receive oiu- doctrines, but try our doctrines 
with the inspired Word, and if you find they agree with the 
Holy Book, then receive them, not because they are our doc- 
trines, but because they are according to the Word of God. This 
is what tiie early Fathers say as regards the Word of God, and 
therefore the Church of Eoine cannot claim infallibility, based 
ou the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers to any one inter- 
pretation of the text, where it is promised that the gates of hell 
shall never prevail against the Church. The majority of the 
Fathers recognised that the gates of hell should not prevail, not 
against Peter, but against Christ. The early interpretation of 
the Bible, then, is against the infallibility of the Church ; some- 
times, too, the Church refuses to recognise the authority of the 
Councils, and says the Councils are not infallible, and then a little 
while afterwards the Church declares the Councils infallible be- 
cause they represent the Church. I do not recognise any church 
as infallible. I recognise Christ alone as infallible, and w^hen 
the Church is according to Christ it is infallible. 

This makes the question, not what is infalhble, but what is 
the Church of the Popish system founded on ? In the Christian 
system the Church is any Christian congregation, large or small. 
Christ said, "Where two or three are.gathered together, there 
will I be in the midst," and therefore the presence of Christ is 
promised, not to a large body, but to a feAv, congregated toge- 
ther in his name. Christ promised to be where two or three 
are gathered together, not to give them infallibility. Oh, no ! 
Christ never promised infallibility to any one, but he promised to 
be with them, to help them, to save them. Now this is not the 
sense in which the Papists take it. According to the most cele- 
brated Fathers and Jesuits, the Church means the clergy alone, not 
the clergy and laity together ; so that, generally speaking, the coun- 
cils consisted of Jesuits alone, the laity was generally excluded 
from the Councils of the Church, so that a congregation was 
but half the Church, since Christ never promised to the entire 
church inf:illibility, he certainly did not promise it to half. 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE TOPE. 181 

Appolinus went fiirther, and says that Councils can make a new 
dogma, and so confer infallibility ; now, no man, no congrega- 
tion of men can have infallibility in the Church of Christ. 

We cannot, and must not receive a new dogma from Popes 
and Councils at all. "We have one Christ and one Gospel, and 
the Gospel does not recognize any new dogma, any new faith — 
our faith must be in Christ alone, not in councils, not in infalli- 
bility. But the Councils are infallible, says the Church of Eome. 
Well, let us say they are infaUible when they are general ecu- 
menical Councils, but when they are larger Councils they are not 
infallible. 

We have some general Ecumenical Councils composed of fifty 
Bishops, and sometimes of Abbots, so that we have only fifty 
men composing the Council ; on the other side you have national 
councils, in which sat no less than two hundred bishops ; and 
now, according to the Church of Eome, the two hundred bish- 
ops connected together, for the sake of the Church, are infalli- 
ble, because they were congregated in a national council. 

The fifty bishops, not always brought together for Christ's 
sake, but for the Pope's sake, are infallible ; but, because they 
are collected from all parts of the world, they are infallible. 
What should be the number to make up an infallible Council ? 
fifty, say the Italians ; twelve, say the Greeks ; eighteen, answer 
the Frenchmen. 

If I receive only twelve in a council, the other council will to 
me be fallible. Oh no, not so say the French ; and the Greeks 
say no, to what the Frenchmen say. The French, however, re- 
ceive all- -even the council of Basle — so that we have a little im- 
broglio, a little confusion, and one cannot say which are the 
infallible councils; now, we have a variety of numbers; you 
don't know whether it is sixteen, or eighteen, or twelve. You 
have these Councils instead of the Bible, which never changes, and 
shall never be changed by any man. Generally, these Ecumi- 
cal Councils, are aU inspired by the Holy Ghost — oh, certainly, 
^es. But some of these general councils attacked heresies. The 
Council of Constantinople declares that any one baptized by a 
heretic, is to all intents and purposes, a heretic. One council 



182 THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

Bays that the soul of man, is a corporeal being ; other councils 
are against this. Then you have councils contradicting each 
other. Know you, oh, councils ! that when a man is infallible, he'- 
always speaks the truth, he never changes ; but the Council of 
Nice, condemned the Council of Trent, the Council of Lateran 
condemned the Council of Basle — you hare the councils fighting 
against each other. You have the Council of Ephesus, who con- 
demned Uticus, and nineteen years after, a second council at 
Ephesus absolved him. You have the doctrine that the bread 
and wine in the Last Supper, are merely symbols. On the other 
hand, the Council of Trent especially sanctioned the doctrine, 
that the bread and wine are not merely symbols, but are really 
the body and blood of Christ. The Council of Basle decided, 
that the Council was superior to the Pope ; then, another coun- 
cil says directly the contrary. You have a council which 
excludes the Apocryphal Books; but the Council of Trent 
admitted all these books. 

Who then was infallible, therefore ? human reason cannot ad- 
mit an infallible church, insisted on by an infallible Pope. No, no, 
we have our Bible, the Bible interpreted by reason; and in 
order to interpret the Bible, we want no church, no commenta- 
ries by the Fathers, no interpretations by Divines — the Bible was 
given by Christ. The Bible was given for the salvation of the 
individual; the Bible was given not to the Church, but to Chris- 
tians. Christ, said, go, and search the Scriptures ; but go, he 
said to each individual ; he does not say to the Church, but he 
says to individuals, try every spirit, the Bible alone is the inter- 
preter of the Bible ; and as the Bible is obscure for some, let 
them pray God to inspire^them, to help them to understand it. 
Your guide to help you to imderstand the obscure passages 
should not be a Jesuit nor a friar, but the Holy Ghost, who has 
promised to help any one who shall humbly ask his assistance 
with all his heart. Go to the Bible, study the Bible, fulfil its 
commandments, pray to the Holy Ghost to give you strength 
and light to study and understand the Word of God, and you will 
save yourself, without archbishops, and without Jesuits, Bible 
interpreters, councils, or Popes. St. Paul, said all inspired word 



THE IXFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 183 

is useful to save mankind. Now, the Bible and Reason are 
against the infallibility of the Pope, and we shall see that his- 
tory also denies the infallibility of the Pope. 

Where does it appear that the Pope is infallible ? ' The Pope 
was infallible, say the J^omanists, when his decrees agreed with 
the Councils. The Pope and Councils together make infallibi- 
lity, but which is the infallible part ? Is it the Council which 
propounds the doctrine, or is it the Pope who approves it ; which 
of the two is infallible? If the Council is infallible in originating, 
then the approval of the Pope is useless. If anything that the 
Pope approves is infallible, it does not need their concur- 
rence. So that if the Pope is infallible, then the Council is use- 
less. But together ! ! But we have some Councils which disap- 
prove the doctrine and conduct of the Pope ; and, on the other 
hand, the Pope will not sanction many of the Councils. So 
that, between the Popes and Councils, we have no kind of infal- 
libility ; but shall we have infallibility when the Pope speaks ex 
cathedra ? So BeUarmino says, when a buU is written, it is cer- 
tain that it is inspired by the Holy Ghost. Let us test this infal- 
libility of the buUs. The first thing necessary is to understand 
the bull ; secondly, to be well informed whether the Pope wrote 
it himself, uninfluenced by fear ; thirdly, whether it was made 
at the desire of the Church ; fourthly, whether the Pope was 
inspired by the bishop on this subject ; fifthly, if the bull was 
everywhere adopted ; sixthly, if any of the bishops refused to 
adopt it ; seventhly, whether the bull is a matter of faith ? Let 
us test the bulls by these seven considerations. "We have now these 
seven points to examine and discuss. I take as an illustration a 
good simple Yankee, who has no knowledge of Latin ; suppose 
our dear brother Jonathan receiving a bull from the Pope. He 
don't read Latin, he goes to some one to have it translated.. 
After you have your translation, are you sure it is faithful ? As 
you do not understand Latin, you cannot be personally positive 
that it is in all respects a true translation ; this is the first diflBcul- 
ty. Now, this Yankee, secluded from all the world, must write 
to every part of the world-^to Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceanica, 
to have the certainty that the Pope asked the prayers of all the 



184 THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

bishops, in order to be informed if every bishop gave his prayer 
accordingly. It may be said, you have a general certainty that 
this was the fact. 

But it must not be a matter of uncertainty, for your salvation 
depends on it ; therefore, yo" must have certainty in all things. 
The same epistolary correspondence must be gone through to 
every bishop in the world, to ascertain whether this bull was 
accepted or refused. At last, after some twenty or thirty years 
of investigation, you begin to find out that this bull is infallible ; 
but after having examined one bull, then appears another, and 
you have once more to go through the same process. How many 
Papal bulls do you think there are ? l!s'ot less than thrq^ thou- 
sand. Try three thousand by seven particular considerations. 
Then say whether the Papal bulls are infallible ; and when you 
have tried the bulls, what will you conclude ? We have many 
Popes who have been declared heretics. Siberius, Bulginas, 
were apostates. John II. was condemned by the University of 
Paris, for many errors. John III. was condemned as a heretic, 
and Simon by the Council of Constance as a heretic. So that 
among the infallible Popes, you have many infallible heretics, 

Now, what is most amusing is, to have some infallibles fight- 
ing with other infallibles for infallibility. You have Gregory I., 
who first used the title of universal bishop ; and you have Leo 
IX., who proclaimed especially the infallibility of the Pope ; while 
Gregory XIII. proved that infallibility is an illusion. Pope Vir- 
gilias declared any one a heretic who belie^-ed in transubstanti- 
ation ; and afterwards you have another Pope, who declared a 
heretic he who would not believe in transubstantiation. Pius 
v., by a bull, declared the breviary of the priest to be correct ; 
on the other hand, another Pope declared it to be full of error. 
Sextus v., denounced the Latin Bible as incorrect ; another 
approved it as correct ; and another said it contained two thou- 
sand capital errors. Pius VII., by an infallible bull, established 
the Jesuits as a body, useful to society; and another Pope 
banished them as detrimental to society. Ah ! ah ! where are 
your infallibles! And this is not all, it is a good deal, but it is 
not all. This is a great miracle among Romanists — to get hohey 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 185 

out of vinegar. The Romanists admit, among other canonical 
books, the Book of Wisdom. In that book it is said, that no 
bad soul shall ever enter into the wisdom of God, and no good 
soul can ever inhabit a body subject to sin. Therefore, the 
wisdom or infallibility of God cannot be the appanage of Popes, 
if Popes are subjected to sin. The devil himself is easier to 
prove infaUible than some of the Popes. I have proved that 
some of the Popes were heretics, and that some were in direct 
contradiction to others ; and, as I have proved them not infallible, 
I shall prove that many of them have not been holy. But the 
Popes are holy, answers the Church of Eome ; they are even 
called habitually, your holiness. The Pope is addi'essed as to a 
king ; you say your majesty ; so to a Pope you say, yom* holiness. 
"Were you to go to Rome, you would find the Pope residing in 
an immense palace, surrounded by guards, chamberlains, court- 
iers, and more than royal state — yet this Pope is called humble 
— the servant of the servants of God. The servant of God as 
an emperor, is rather ironical ; this man has on one of his fin- 
gers a splendid ring, composed of diamonds and pearls, of great 
price, and this ring of $8,000 is called the fisherman's ring, it 
symbolizes the ring of poor St. Peter, which cost perhaps two 
cents. The Romanists in this country say that the Pope is infal- 
lible, because holy, and not only a very holy father, but, there- 
fore, he is, of course, a very infallible father. Everything about 
him is holy ; and in Rome it is not an exaggeration to say, that 
his palace is called a very holy palace ; the gardens of the Pope 
are called the very holy gardens ; the stables are called the most 
holy stableg ; the coaches are called the most holy coaches ; the 
horses the most holy horses ; you see in the street passing, ten 
or twelve horses, and if a stranger asks, he is told that they are 
the most holy horses. I am neither exaggerating nor quizzing ; 
and it is a fact, if you enter the most holy kitchen of the Pope, 
and question the most holy cook (for he rejoices in the name of 
the most holy cook), he will tell you that this is the most holj 
plum-pudding. What is the conclusion ? If the Pope is inMli- 
ble, because he is the most holy father, then the roast beef of 
the holy father is infallible. This is the conclusion to be drawn. 



186 THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

Yet we are told that the title holy and most holy belong to God 
alone. And when holiness is attributed to man as Pope, you 
will not be astonished if in Rome the Church is corrupted till 
the most ignoble things are called holy. "WTien you say a thing 
or a matter is holy you must suppose it infallible. "What sort 
of a history is this history of the Pope ? You have only one 
epoch from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, (and I quote the 
best of the Eomish writers,) who say that the Popes living^ in 
these two centuries are not Popes but apostate men ; and many 
of them committed crimes of such a nature, as to dishonor not 
only the Church, but human nature. You have a Pope in the 
person of Pormosos, who invaded the Vatican and there built his 
altar; after a little while this Pope was overcome by brute 
force. His successor, Stephen, ordered his body to be disinterred 
— ^he dressed it in his pontifical robes, put it in the Church, and 
questioned the corpse about all its crimes when living. Receiv- 
ing no answer, Stephen ordered three fingers to be cut ofl^", and 
the body to be cast into the Tiber. After having been excom- 
municated — he cancelled all the acts of Formosos, and covered 
his name with ignominy. Some while after that came another 
Pope, who reinstated Formosos, and then again another, who 
condemned him ; and, finally, at the end of eighty years, ano- 
ther who reinstated him. So that we have four Popes contend- 
ing about the rights of their predecessors. After Boniface, came 
Sextus III. ; a worse man never sat on the chair of St. Peter, 
He was elected by the influence of two women, Morona and 
Theodosia. This Sextus III., one of the successors of St. 
Peter, had two sons by Theodora ; one of the sons murdered 
his father, and was made Pope ill the seventeenth year of his 
age. He was called the Nero, the Heliogabalus, of Popery — such 
crimes did he commit. He gave origin to the great scandal of 
the female Pope. Thus was St. Peter's chair abused and defiled 
by monks and criminals. This is the holiness upon which the 
infallibility is based. We, in Italy, know that many of the 
Popes were incestuous, libidinous, infidels, and assassins, and 
committed all sorts of crimes. The last of the Popes, before 
t*^ present, was an inveterate drunken apostate. 



THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 187 

And now for the moral and practical conclusion of this lecture. 
Americans, thank God that you have no Popes! Americans, 
try never to have the Popes or their power in your country ! 
Keep your Bible, guard your Bible, read your Bible, fulfil its 
commands, be faithful to your Bible, and to the Bible alone, 
under the guidance of the Holy Ghost ; and if any one intro- 
duces human authority, instead of the authority of the Bible, 
American Protestants mistrust him ; . he is a Jesuit in disguise. 
Americans, beware of Satan introducing Popery into your 
country I 



188 CONDITION OF THE NATIONS 



LECTURE V. 

CONDITION OF NATIONS UNDER THE POPISH SYSTEM. 

Our subject this evening is, What is the condition of the 
Nations under thfe Rule of the Popish System ? The answer is, 
they are poor and enslaved. I shall prove this point, first, by 
the riches and power of the clergy, one cause of the poverty of 
Roman Catholic countries ; and, secondly, by the influence and 
authority of the Roman Catholic clergy, which is the primary 
cause of slavery among the Papists. There is a maxim, and it is 
proved by history, that when a clergy is rich the people are 
poor. The poverty of the people pays the riches of the clergy. 
In ancient times we had in England monks and friars, who were 
very rich, and the English people very poor. "We had Spain, 
Portugal, France, and Italy, where the clergy were very rich, and 
in the same proportion the people were very poor. In your young 
America the people are rich, because, still at present, the Popish 
clergy are poor. No great amount of property as yet has come 
into the possession of the Popish clergy. {Cheering and hisses ; 
the most noisy were put out 'by the police.) There are policemen 
on duty, and a good duty they are doing. I have two things to 
say with regard to this confusion ; first, I beg the ladies not to 
fear, because the noise is caused merely by harmless hisses and 
the police efforts to quell them, so there is nothing to fear. 
Secondly, I pray my good^ friends not to applaud in opposition 
to the hisses ; at all hazards I shall continue my lecture, come 



UNDER THE POPISH SYSTEM. 189 

what may. I am an Italian, and not to be stopped by any fear 
whatever. I shall give an example to the Protestant American. 
I shall go on my way in spite of the hisses and groans of the 
asses and pigs of Popery. I have a duty to perform, and I shall 
brave tha battle of hisses and groans. If the papers have no 
other arguments than the hissing of some foreign b'hoys to dis- 
turb me, I have a right to say, Liar, answer my arguniients ! 
{Thunders of cheers.) A little excitement is very good for any 
one. 

Now for the practical proof of this proposition ; namely, in 
the Eoman Catholic system, generally speaking, the clergy are 
rich and the people poor. The practical proof is, that among 
Protestants you have many religious services without any pay- 
ment. Among the Romanists (where the Roman Catholic is 
dominant) everything must be paid for, and without payment 
many religious services will not be performed; so that the 
Popish Church was justly called by Russell the religion of silver, 
the religion of money, for, from the cradle to the grave all is 
payment. If you marry you must pay. In truth of this, I 
appeal to Italians as well as Irishmen ; they know that, to obtain 
the blessing of the priest, it is necessary to have at hand five 
shillinps, twenty, thirty, or a larger sum, without which you get 
no blessing from any priest. In many instances yon may have 
the young couple without clothing or furniture, even, perhaps, 
no bed, but they must not be without the money for the priest. 
This is true also of all the other rites and sacraments of the 
Church. To be baptized it is necessary to have money ; to be 
confirmed, you require money. Indeed, when I was in London 
I had under my eyes a list of the prices appended to every re- 
ligious ceremony or sacrament. I shaU cite instances of the 
condition of the Roman Catholic people, not only in the Roman 
Catholic countries, but also in Protestant countries, because the 
teaching of the priests among Papists is conducted upon a false 
basis. Christ, in the gospel, said — " Seek ye first the kingdom 
of Heaven and its righteousness, and all other things shall be 
added unto you." Christ, then, does not exclude all other 
things ; then Christ does not exclude property, and the comforts 



190 CONDITION OF THE NATIONS 

and happiness which it affords in this present world ! Christ 
only inculcated that, in seeking our worldly comfort, we should 
not forget eternal life ; but this is not the idea among Papists. 
I remember to have read in England, and also in Ireland — kind 
Ireland, whose people were everywhere so good to me — I re- 
member to have read an anecdote of the great O'Oonnell. 
{Hisses.) Are you hissing your own O'Connell? O'ConneU, 
you know, was a EomaB Catholic, and claimed the independence 
of the Eoman Catholic Church in Ireland. O'Connell was one 
day speaking in public, and aniong many other instances he 
gave this anecdote, speaking about the primates and bishops of 
Ireland : " Two Irishmen," he said, " were presented before 
Christ, one a Protestant, the other a Eoman Catholic. Christ 
said to the Eoman Catholic Irishman, '"Will you have comforts, 
happiness, riches in this present life, and eternal perdition in the 
other? or do you prefer poverty, misery, and squalor in this 
life, and glory and eternal enjoyment in Heaven?' The 
Eoman Catholic Irishman answered, 'My Divine Saviour, I 
prefer poverty in this life and eternal enjoyment in Heaven.' 
Then Christ asked the Protestant Irishman the same question, 
and the Protestant Irishman replied — 'My Divine Saviour, I 
desire comforts, riches and happiness, industry and commerce in 
this world, because if I obey your word and fulfil your com- 
mandments, after the enjoyments of this life I shall ascend to 
Heaven, into the eternal enjoyment of its glory.'" It is for the 
Catholic's reason, then, that you have at the present day Eo- 
manists who reject the comforts and happiness of this present 
world, only in order to enjoy happiness in the other world. 

If you compare a Protestant with a Papist country, you wiU 
find a horrible contrast. I was in Switzerland, I was in France, 
in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, everywhere ; but, every- 
where, my dear brethren, the Papists are poor, miserable, 
unclean ; and the Protestants, rich and prosperous. {Storm of 
hisses.) When people who have seen nothing and know nothing, 
hiss, they show themselves very good specimens of Papist blind- 
ness and slavery. Any one coming only from England without 
having seen Switzerland, where the Protestants are so clean, so 



UNDER THE POPISH SYSTEM. 191 

rich, so wealthy, and happy, a reputation they enjoy everywhere ; 
any one can see the difference in Switzerland between the Pro- 
testant and Catholic Cantons. If you go from Geneva into the 
Canton of the Argovia, a distance only of a few miles, you find 
people well off and comfortable ; south of these (in the Griscns) 
you find friars, priests, and Jesuits, who before they weie ex 
pelled from Switzerland, lived in squalor, misery, and rags. If 
Irishmen wiU examine the thing faithfully, without rage or pre- 
judice, but with reason, they will say this evening on their 
return home, " It may be severe, but it is true, that in Ireland, 
the Roman Catholic counties are miserable, poor, and dirty; 
while the Protestant counties are clean and wealthy. Take, for 
instance, the Protestant city of Beffast. The Catholics have been 
as it were overpowered by the industry of the Protestants, who 
have made it the centre of their extensive manufactories, so that 
the wealth of Belfast is all derived from Protestant industry and 
Protestant commerce. When I was in Ireland, pitying this peo- 
ple for obeying blindly the Roman Catholic religion, wherever I 
saw on my journey, through one of its villages, a Protestant cot- 
tage and the Papist cottage side by side, the Catholic cottage 
was miserably furnished, and in a filthy condition ; but I found 
the Protestant cottage well furnished, with great neatness, look- 
ing as if inhabited by human beings. 

Among Catholics you always see the same blindness. They 
are always reproaching the English Government as the cause of 
their poverty. No, no ! Reproach your priests, who oppress and 
rob you; reproach your priest, and not England; for did not 
the English Government, in the time of the famine, send six mil- 
lions of pounds sterling to Ireland ? 

Now, I shall prove, secondly, that the Popish system for 
nations is a miserably poor system. (Hisses^ confusion^ and more 
arrests.) You will, perhaps, say, Eather Gavazzi will repent 
having given two free lectures in New York. No ; I am glad, 
because I study the country through which I travel, and as I 
bring to your America the facts observed by myself in Italy, 
France, and England, so when I shall go to my own country, I 
shall have proof to offer there of the blindness and slavery of 



102 CONDITION OF THE NATIONS 

Roman Catholics; proofs derived from these two lectures in 
New York. 

Now, my dear friends, it is a true and logical maxim, that the 
more influence the priests have in a nation, the less is the power 
and influence of the people and the Legislature, in that nation ; 
the more power and authority the clergy have, the less rights 
have the people ; so that when I shall have proved that among 
Papists the Roman Catholic clergy is everything, my logical 
conclusion will be, that the people are nothing, and their rights 
are nothing, also. If I were to quote ancient history to prove 
this point, I should be too long ; instead of that, however, I de- 
sire to be rather short this evening, in order to abbreviate some 
martyrdom in this room. But I have one or two things to say 
about the early ages. Then, in old times, in order to elevate the 
power of the clergy, ecclesiastic tribunals were instituted, by 
which alone a priest could be tried, whatever were his crime. 
Rome, the Papacy, is a kingdom, a temporal power among all 
nations, so that in Prance it is the power of the Pope and the 
Emperor ; in Spain the Pope reigns with the Queen. 

In England, Papacy is trying to enter into conflict with the 
power of the Queen — but there it is too late. The privileges 
of the clergy are no longer there recognised, but by acts of di- 
plomacy of Rome she yet tries to maintain a shadow of supre- 
macy throughout the world. Now it is felt that the constitution 
of the Popish Church is a monarchical constitution ; that the 
form and substance of the Papal government is essentially and 
necessarily a despotism and absolutism, so that it is impossible — 
mark my proposition — that the Church of Rome should support 
any republican government. Permit me to quote modern history 
against Papist assertions. Belgium, Piedmont, and England, are 
the only really constitutional kingdoms in Europe. Against 
Belgium there is a war, commenced two years since by Rome 
and the Jesuits, in order to maintain the National Schools in the 
hands of the Jesuits, who have ruined the rest of Europe, and 
will also ruin Belgium if they continue teachers of the Belgian 
youth. And when the Constitutional Chamber of Belgium de- 
creed that the Jesuits should not have the National Schools, the 



UNDER THE POPISH SYSTEM. 193 

Pope wrote an encyclical letter against the constitutional govern- 
ment in Belgium, to excommunicate it if they would not con- 
tinue Jesuit teachers of Belgian youth. The Jesuits are the ruin 
of all nations. The Jesuits ruined France, Portugal, Spain, 
Mexico, and Brazil. {Cheers and hisses.) Americans, beware 
of the Jesuits, for they will also ruin you if your allow them. 
Now in Piedmont the Papal war against the liberal government 
of this part of Italy was a very cruel one. The Pope, the Arch- 
bishop, and bishops were against all civil reforms in the Pied- 
montese Parliament, and against any step, in any direction, which 
would secure greater freedom to the Piedmontese people. The 
Pope made a desperate effort to entangle the new freedom, and 
to restore the ancient regime of the Papists. 

In brief, my dear brethren, the war is only just beginning, 
from the introduction of Cardinal "Wiseman till to-day. The 
Church of Rome is working against the Republic of Switzerland. 
A few years ago this people was visited by a great calamity, the 
war of the Sunderbund, excited by the Papists, and especially 
by the Pope's Nuncio, so that this republic of Europe was 
threatened to be overthrown by means of the Roman Catholic 
efforts against their liberties. Yet, in the face of all this, people 
will say, but here, the Jesuits, the foreign priests, missionaries, 
and bishops sent to America — they altogether will work toge- 
ther for the support of the American people, for the glory of the 
American flag. Oh, blind American people ! foreign Jesuits in 
your country! foreign missionaries and bishops in your country 
will work only for power, and this foreign authority is the au- 
thority of the Pope. This, people will say, is mere supposition ! 
Yes ; but my dear Americans, do you believe that we in Italy 
are without heart or mind ? Do you believe that we in Italy 
are without sagacity and understanding ? 

I suppose you have a better opinion of my countrymen. Yov 
will oblige me, then, to believe that we in Italy have mind, 
heart, and understanding. Very well. Then remember, that 
in 1847, v/hen we received our first liberty from our princes, 
what do you think was our first request, our first act, after hav- 
ing received a Constitutional Charter ? Our first request was, 

9 



194 CONDITION OF THE NATIONS 

to Bend away the Jesuits from Italy. We in Italy know tliat the 
Jesuits, the fi*eedom of the Jesuits, the independence of the Je- 
suits, the nationality of the Jesuits, and liberty, cannot go toge- 
ther. Prove to me that the Jesuits, and missionaries, and 
foreign bishops are being transubstantiated in their policy and 
'nature, when they come here to America. But, my dear 
brethren, while you are demanding liberty throughout the 
world, it is at the same time true that the Popish system is 
against all liberties. I repeat what I said before, that its consti- 
tutional form is absolutism, and it is impossible that it can ever 
support a Constitutional and Eepublican Government; and I 
invite all opponents not to get up a disturbance here, because 
my English is not good enough, I cannot fight with an English 
speaker, but if you have anything to reproach me with, writ© 
and print it, and I will prove it false, my dear brethren. 

The Irish are now claiming freedom from the English Govern- 
ment; well, I respect all nationalities, I ask independence for 
Ireland, for Italy, and for every nation in the world. This is my 
opinion, without being slave to any government or people in the 
world ; but, my dear brethren, w^hat was the origin of the pre- 
sent state of Ireland ? Irishmen so blindly devoted to Popes and 
Popery — Irishmen, it was a Pope who made you slaves of Eng- 
land — your glorious St. Patrick established an independent 
church. (Hisses.) You hiss St. Patrick ! (Laughter.) In that 
you have a specimen of the consistency of the minds of the Pa- 
pists. 

The glorious Scotch apostle, St. Patrick, established in Ireland 
an independent Church ; it was not a church dependant upon 
Rome ; for five or six centuries the Irish Church was indepen- 
dent, without Pope, or the supremacy of Popery. It was 
Adrian III., who wrote a bull, in which he granted the title of 
Lord of Ireland, to King Henry II., for which every individual 
was to pay a penny, as a tribute to St. Peter. Irishmen, know, if 
you claim liberty and freedom, and hate oppression, you must 
thank Popes and Popery, who made you slaves. 

What is proposed now in Ireland ? Are the Roman Catholic 
priests at present working for the true and honest right of the 



UNDER THE POPISH SYSTEM. 195 

Irish people ? No ! and liere, permit me to quote, Meaglier, in 
one of his last speeches here. This young man said, " If the 
Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland had acted like the Eoman 
Catholic clergy in Lombardy, Ireland at present would be a free 
country." Therefore, the principal reason why Ireland is not 
free, is the Roman Catholic clergy. 

What will you answer — I speak honestly, and address myself 
only to the honest Irish people — wh J; will you answer to all 
America, when Europe and America so justly reproach you for the 
existence in Ireland of the ribbon society ? The ribbon society 
is not a Protestant society, for the name of no Protestant is 
written in its lists. The ribbon society is a society for robbery 
and murder. Who does not know that this is not the manner 
to free Ireland ? Preserve your freedom honestly, take care of 
your liberty rightly and honestly, and the world will say the 
Irish are right ; but do not resort to murder and robbery. Nor 
can the Roman Catholic priests absolve these people from mur- 
der and robbery. I appeal to honest Irishmen to tell me what 
are you in Ireland with your Roman Catholic priests? You are 
nothing. You lose even the freedom to vote according to your 
conscience. I was in Ireland ten months ago, I was present at 
the hustings, I read the pastoral sermons of many parish priests, 
I read that they will deny the last sacrament to any Irishman 
who should vote against their bishops and curates, I read that 
they will deprive Irishmen of all the comforts of the Roman 
Catholic religion, if they do not vote according to the bishop. 
This is the freedom granted by your Roman Catholic priests — 
you have not even the right to vote according to your conscience 
and your wiU. 

Finally, what will be astonishing to hear in this country, all 
the Roman Catholic clergy are against a Protestant government, 
and in order to have a Roman Catholic government, under 
which to enjoy the riches, authority, and influence of a power- 
fal despotism, they preach openly in Ireland a crusade against 
the English Government. Do not suppose that I am here to de- 
fend the English government, it can defend itself without my aid, 
but what I said in England, I say in America, — mark the progress 



i96 CONDITION OF THE NATIONS 

of Catholicism ! I ask the Americans, as a logical people, if a Ro- 
man Catholic priest can preach against the British Government, 
if he can excite the Irishmen against the British government, 
inviting a foreign government to interfere in favor of the Irish, 
may we not conclude that the Irishmen do enjoy freedom, for 
if they were not free, how conld they speak thus freely against 
the government under which they live ? They have freedom of 
suffrage, and enjoy all the liherties guaranteed by the British 
Constitution. 

I was in Ireland when Louis IsTapoleon became emperor. I 
heard two or three bishops in Ireland say, we pray God that 
Louis ISTapoleon may make an excursion, an intervention with a 
French squadron in Ireland. That is not all. The Tablet, 
which in Ireland is what the Freeman's Journal is in this coun- 
try — ^namely, a Roman Catholic absurdity — the Tablet, edited 
by Mr. Lucas, once a member of the French Academy, and whose 
writings gave him his quietus, making him regarded everywhere 
as a blackguard ; he is now showing himself to be as good a 
Roman Catholic, as he was before a good member of the French 
Academy. This Lucas, in the Tablet, said, three months ago, 
" In the world we have two fields of battle — one is the Protest- 
ant field, at the head of whose army is the Queen of England ; 
the other is the Roman Catholic field, at the head of whoso 
army is Louis Napoleon, "We pray Uod that the two armies 
may encounter, and that Louis ISTapoleon's army, fighting the 
Protestant army, may overcome it ; so that the Papist flock and 
faith may be spread throughout the world. And especially we 
wish Louis success, in order that Ireland may become a French 
province — and if Ireland should become a French province, Ire- 
land shall be more free under the French government, than she 
is at present under the British Government." My dear Irishmen, 
pray God to become Frenchmen under Louis T^apoleon, because 
you will lose all popular rights, having only the sorry one 
remaining, of having betrayed your dear country to a foreigner 
and tyrant. Oli ! no, the man who took away all the liberties 
of Frenchmen and France, cannot bring liberty to Ireland. 

Now, I am going to conclude my lecture. I shall only beg 



UNDER THE POPISH SYSTEM. 107 

the Americans, this evening, and all honest Irishmen, to say 
when or where, I have said one word against Irishmen ? {Nb" 
wicere, nowhere.) This then is my defence in the face of all ac- 
cusers, who take pleasure in falsely saying that I excite Irish- 
men against Americans. No ; I wish only to enlighten Irishmen, 
and to do so I wish to be allowed to speak to them as freely and 
plainly as I have ever done to enlighten -my own dear country- 
men in Italy, in order to free them and all the world from such 
a despotic authority as that of the Church of Rome. 

In this Tabernacle, some time ago, it was said by an iUustrious 
Irishman, that the chief duty of Irishmen, in America, is to pre- 
pare themselves to defend the American liberties against foreign 
invasion, and that to prepare themselves effectually for this, they 
should study the use of arms. No, this is not the main duty of 
Irishmen in America. It is impossible, in my opinion, that 
America should be assailed ; but if it should, the only duty of 
Irishmen is not to defend the American flag, it is a duty of 
foreigners here, to defend America ; but it is not the only or 
chief duty. The grandchildren of the great Washington have no 
need of any foreigner, or any foreign support, to defend the flag 
of America; but if an invasion were possible, every nation 
would rise up to help America in repelling it. I myself, would 
be among the first to enlist in its defence. Eemember, that I 
bring the Italian cross ; no Papist cross, no Jesuit's cross, but the 
Italian cross of Christ, the tricolor of Italy in our crusades 
against the Austrians and French. 

Now, I will conclude, my dear brethren. I myself, with my 
companions, wiU come to defend your flag if it is ever attacked, 
in order to return and recover the flag of Italy ; but the first 
duty of the Irishmen in America is — the duty of every foreigner 
in America — to give education to their sons. {Mear, hear, 
hear.) 

Irishmen, hear my last advice ; make a free use of the Nation- 
al American schools ; educate your children freely in the Ameri- 
can schools ; destroy the influence of the priest in the Ameri- 
can schools. America has nothing to fear from a foreign inva- 
sion, she has all to fear from the uneducated class of her people. 



198 CONDITION OF THE NATIONS UNDER POPERY. 

{Cheers^ cheers.) And now let me repeat the conclusion of my 
last lecture to you : 

Let me assure you, that Ireland never will be frecf'till the Irish 
character is unenslaved, till they free themselves ; I say, particu- 
larly to the Irishmen, would you free your country from all po- 
litical yoke, then free your country first from the Papal yoke, 
and then you wiU be free I 



THE BUNDNESS OF POPERY. 199 



LECTURE VI. 

THE BLINDNESS OP POPERY. 

I AM uncertain what to say, this evening, because a majority 
of my audience wi*ote to me this morning, that it would be 
pleasing to them if I would transpose the subjects of this and 
to-morrow evening's lecture. Because, my friends say, "We 
are in the first of May, and obliged to change houses." I cannot 
change at my o^vn pleasure. If I were in Italy I should take 
the sense of the audience, and abide by their decision. But, as 
it is, I think I shall go on to speak about the blindness of Popery, 
and reply to some remarks of Cardinal Wiseman, and also some 
pretences of the Papists, that they are alone in the field of 
battle. 

Now the Popish system is blindness. The main point of this 
subject I proved in another lectm-e ; namely, that the Papists, 
volantes ut non volantes, are without the Bible, and are forbidden 
to read the Word of God. Since, therefore, the Word of God is 
the only light in this life and in our world, in a moral and spirit- 
ual sense all Papists, faithful to their system, are blind. Cer- 
tainly, they obey, and that faithfully ; but they obey only the 
authority of their priests, whose authority they cannot resist. 
Therefore the priests teach and instruct them in all errors, in all 
lies, in aU that is for their own (the priests') best interests. But 
we will leave this subject, which has already been folly dis- 
cussed. 



2O0r THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 

I shall prove the blindness of the Papists in the Popish sys- 
tern, chiefly by their worship. I suppose that my audience wili 
agree with me, that any people who are without the Word of 
God, must necessarily be a blind people. But this is what some 
Papists deny, but it is what I am certain is true, even in your 
New York. I learned an example of this, no later than this 
morning — proving that the priests will not let then* people read 
the Word of God, because, as they say, it is useless. Therefore, 
I conclude, they are really blind. They believe faithfully in all 
superstitions, in all works of supererogation, and in the supreme 
authority of their priests. They are blind, because they have 
no light ; they have not the divine light in their souls. The 
shadow of the divine light is blighting *and cursing this whole 
people before God. Now, to extend the argument : among Pro- 
testants the people are enlightened, because when their priests 
preach, or speak, or pray, they always use the English language ; 
so that every one who hears the service of his religion in his 
own maternal language, understands perfectly what the priests 
say. Not so in Eome^ The worship among the Papists is in 
Latin — all prayers are in Latin — nothing is done in any vernacu- 
lar tongue. In the household, among relatives, and in the 
family, they pray in Latin — all sacraments are administered in 
Latin — the mass, which is the capital point in the Papists' wor- 
ship, is in Latin. What can you conclude of a church which 
conducts all its worship in Latin ? 

Even many among the Eoman Catholic priests themselves do 
not understand Latin — so that they do not themselves under- 
stand the very worship they conduct before the people. Gene- 
rally, in Italy and America, especially among the industrious 
Papal classes, we find none who understand the Latin at all. 
Therefore they are obliged to worship without understanding 
anything about it. In using this Latin service, the priests vio 
late the Word of God ; for you know, as well as I, that St. Paul 
forbade praying in an unknown language ; and when Papists pray 
in an unknown language, they are against Paul and the inspired 
Word of God. Why, then, do the Papists pray and worship in 
Latin, — an unknown language ? Is it not, that by this technical 



THK BLINDNESS OF POPERr. 201 

form of worship the priest maintains, first, his own authority ; 
and secondly, keeps the people in a state of holy stupidity and 
ignorance ? 

Some fortnight ago I read in a Protestant newspaper, the 
words of the Keverend Doctor Cummings, spoken on the occa- 
Eion of laying the corner-stone of the Church of St. Stephen the 
Martyr. In the sermon delivered on that occasion he spoke 
these fine words, and I am very glad to be able to present them 
to you. I always take advantage of all topics which arise, as I 
pass on in my travels, for often, as a collector of interesting facts, 
I may do some little good in behalf of the Eoman Catholics and 
their worship. I ask your attention to this extract, because it 
is printed, and so has become a public matter. I have no per- 
sonalities to indulge against any man, only animadversions upon 
his published words. He said : " We love the dignified cadence 
of that antique song, though chanted in an unknown tongue. 
Yes, we take pride in that majestic Latin service, every part of 
which we understand. It is not our native tongue, but we lovo 
it because it is the tongue of our mother (the church) when she 
was young, and she has never forgotten it, because she yet has 
never grown old." 

Ifow, I know not where this reverend Doctor studied logic. 
I certainly think it must be the logic of Maynooth ; at any rate, 
to me it is a new logic — " We love the dignified cadence of that 
antique song." That is, because the Roman Catholic Chm-ch is 
so fond of all exterior pomp and gorgeous spectacles. Even 
in New York, we have a Roman Catholic Jesuitical church, I 
know not whether in Sixteenth or Seventeenth street, where 
people say, we have beautiful and fine music. Many Protes- 
tants go to this church of the Jesuits, in order to hear the fine 
music discoursed by the fine orchestra. It is in this way that 
the devil will ent«r America, by means of pomp, of music, and 
of fine spectacles. You don't go to St. Xavier to hear an inter- 
esting sermon, an able speech about the Gospel. ITo, no, this is 
the church where they go to hear music, but this music is in 
Latin. Oh ! we love Latin, we love this majestic Latin service, 
every part of which we understand. If I were preaching to 
9* 



202 THE BLINDNESS OF POPEKY. 

you in tlie Turkish language, would you say, with Dr. Cummings, 
oh, we understand this majestic service ? You understand 
nothing, my dear brethren. In your own language, you do under- 
stand something. 

A\] you can do is to understand that portion of the worship 
which appeals to the eye, but you cannot understand the part 
which appeals to the heart and mind ; the spiritual part is not 
understood, unless you understand the material part of the ser- 
vice. Many people know the routine of the Catholic services — 
even Koman Catholics themselves know the history of the mass 
as representing the sacrifice on Mount Calvary. But ask them 
the spiritual meaning,- and they cannot tell you anything about 
it, because, I repeat, that when English people assemble and hear 
the services of the Baptist service, they understand what is said, 
because they know the language ; but when they don't under- 
stand the language, they cannot understand the performance nor 
the worship — they leave the houses of worship as coldly as they 
entered them, without even having prayed from their hearts. 
This is not all ; this reverend father says that, the Eoman Catho- 
lic flock loves the Latin language in their services, because it is 
the language of their mother (church) when she was young. 
But mark the good logic, she don't forget it, because she, not 
yet old, after nineteen centuries, is only advancing towards ma- 
turity. 

Now, I ask, when the church was really young did she wor- 
ship in Latin ? Oh 1 reverend Doctor Cummin gs, no ; you mis- 
take the language of our young mother, young even now, but 
not among Catholics, but still young amongst the Protestants. 
The language which the church, our mother, spoke, was not 
Latin at all; she spoke in Hebrew, for Christ preached in 
Hebrew, the apostles preached in Hebrew — therefore, the first 
language of our mother was the Hebrew tongue. The Church 
varied its language according to the country in which she was 
established. In Armenia, she spoke Armenian ; among the Ara- 
bians, Arabic ; among the Greeks, Greek ; and when she was 
among the Latins, she spoke Latin ; and everywhere she was 
clear, because she spoke the truth ; but in these days the false 



' the: blindness of popery. 203 

Church of Rome speaks an incomprehensible language, because 
she no longer speaks the truth ; and, in order not to be detected 
in her imposture, she resorts to an unknown language. 

Come, oh! tell me. Dr. Cummings, if in Jerusalem, Antioch, 
Corinth, Peter and Paul spoke Latin? But you speak Latin, 
because it is the language of the Pope ; you would speak the lan- 
guage of the devil if the Pope spoke it. {Cheers.) From the 
spiritual and moral ground we come to establish the proposition 
in a scientific point of view. Popery is afflicted not only with 
spiritual and moral blindness, but with artistic and scientific 
blindness. 

Cardinal "Wiseman, on the contrary, says that the arts, sciences, 
never flourished so well as under the Papal dominion, in his 
last lecture in Leeds. Apropos of lecturing — let me tell you 
that the Papists reproach me for being a lecturer ; but Wiseman 
is also a lecturer and a cardinal at the same time. Therefore, if 
I am a humbug, Cardinal Wiseman is a still greater. The 
Cardinal said, in Leeds, that science, letters, and arts, never 
flourished more than under the Papist system ; and the Romish 
Church is really the mother of all wisdom. In support of this 
assertion he instances Italy. His remarks were repeated in New 
York, in the Freeman's Journal, with great eulogium. He said 
that Italy is, par excellence, the country of genius ; but Italy is 
the first country in all Europe for Papal dominion. Therefore, 
Italy is the promoter, the creator, of great genius in letters, and 
the sciences. When in my college in Bologna, I learned that a 
syllogism with three propositions is illogical ; but Cardinal Wise- 
man can make syllogisms with even four or five propositions, 
because he is a Cardinal ; infallible, as belonging to an infallible 
Church and an infallible Pope. Now, to meet his argument with 
a similar argument. Ireland is the greatest country in the United 
Kingdom in two things ; it has produced the greatest orators, the 
greatest poets, the highest scientific and literary men ; therefore 
her "ribbon society" produced these orators, these poets, and 
these writers. This is a good argument, because the ribbon 
society is an institution of Irishmen. Now, does such an argu- 
ment prove that Ireland produced these great orators and poets, 



204 THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 

by means of the ribbon society ? No, no ! The ribbon society 
don't include the best people of the United Kingdom. The ribbon 
society only gives to Ireland robbers and assassins. Now, in the 
same way, if in Italy we have great genius among our people, 
it is not because we are under Papal domination, but in spite 
of it. It is not because of the Pope, but because Italy is Italy ; 
and she would have produced even greater and more splendid 
geniuses without Pope or Popery at all. In Italy, of ancient 
times, we wanted no Pope to produce Cicero, TibuUus, Horace, 
Livy, Yirgil, Seneca. These arose long before Pope and Popery. 
Therefore, our Italian genius springs not from Pope or Popery, 
but in spite of it ; it belongs to Italy, and not to the Vatican. 

I will now prove that Popery has been the worst thing that 
could happen to the genius of my country. Do the arts and 
sciences flourish under the Papal dominion? The Popes ren- 
dered themselves often ruthless barbarians in their treatment 
of the monuments of ancient art. Rome was great by her 
ancient monuments. Did the Popes try to preserve them ? No. 
The Popes destroyed them. Among the greatest of these monu- 
ments are the Pantheon and the Coliseum. The Coliseum was 
partly destroyed by Pope Barbarini, in order to make room for 
the palaces of his bastard sons ; and the Pantheon was mutilated 
by Urban, in order to erect the great altar in the basilica of St. 
Peter. In Rome you will hear the proverb, Quel che nonfece i 
barhari lo fece il Barbarini. What the gi-eat barbarians did not 
destroy, the little one (Barbarini) achieved. What has the 
Roman Church done to compare with the annals of the civiliza- 
tion of ancient Rome ? The basilica of the Vatican is nothing 
to compare with the basilica of Pisa, built by the Emperor 
Adrian. If there is anything great in the Vatican, it is the 
cupola ; the idea of which was taken by Michael Angelo from 
the cupola of the Pantheon. So that after all, we in Italy have 
nothing to thank the Popes for ; but many things for which to 
hate them. Not only have they not achieved anything for the 
glory of our country, but they have destroyed the glorious works 
of her ancient genius, and have persecuted for ages the peopl* 
of Italy. 



. TflK BLINDNESS OF POPERT. 20^ 

You know that in Italy we have most magnificent churches, 
grand and imposing churches. Therefore, is it said that the 
Popish system protects all illustrious artists. If you go to Italy, 
you will find palaces, especially in Genoa and Venice, real gal- 
leries and museums, erected without the patronage of church 
or chapel, and these palaces are the refuge and resort of Italian 
artists. It is true, that for their own sakes the Popes did build 
many fine churches, and employ many great artists. Why, for 
the sake of art ? Ko. They cared nothing for the artists them- 
selves, for Kaphael sold them his greatest work, his Madonna, 
for fifty doUars. In that time, this was, it is true, a much greater 
sum than now, but many lesser works were sold for a hundred 
and fifty and two hundred dollars. 

But why do the Popes admit the works of art into their tem- 
ples ? Because their religion is not a true Christian religion ; for 
when a worship is according to a primitive church, it needs no 
fine artists, nor splendid churches, nor pictures. God's worship 
is spiritual truth. The fine arts in churches are preventives of 
spiritual truth, because, in my country, foreigners come to our 
churches, not to pray, not to hear an instructive discourse, but 
to admire the fine arts ; therefore, because the Roman Catholic 
Church is a Popish system, it promotes the fine arts, and so they 
are always adorning their temples ; and wherever you see an 
ornamented church, you have the best proof that Papacy is en- 
tering, and that the church is according to the Papal worship. 

Now, I will prove briefly that Popery is no special patron of 
the artists themselves. Cardinal Wiseman quoted in his lecture, 
Dante, Petrarch, Boccacio, and Galileo, in support of his propo- 
sition. Oh, Cardinal Wiseman ! if you speak of Englishmen and 
English literature, quote whom you please, but do not quote 
Italian literature, for you know nothing about it. Our Dante 
was persecuted, and forbidden to be read till about two centu- 
ries ago, and .the Jesuits expel his work from their colleges to 
this very day. Petrarch was also forbidden, because he wrote 
a satire on the Pope, and Boccacio is also forbidden ; indeed, 
every great man is put into the index expurgatorius. We havd 
no great historian whose works are not forbidden by the Church 



206 THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 

of Eome, Such is the patronage the Church of Kome extends 
to artists and writers. She forbids their works ! But, say the 
Komanists, these works are wrong, and therefore, in order to 
maintain purity, the Church has prohibited all these works, and 
in this way she has always enlightened the people, by prohibit- 
ing all the best works in Italy. In our own days the Church of 
Rome has proscribed the Avorks of Gioberti, Ventura, and Ara- 
minio, certainly three of the greatest men in Italy. Gioberti 
had a work which pleased the Pope, when Pius IX. looked like 
a Reformer, but when Pius yielded to a superior power he forbid 
the same work ; it was forbidden, because in a preface to one 
edition Gioberti said that the flight of the Pope from Rome had 
had a bad effect ; and for this, though it was true and a fact, 
his book was put into the index expurgatorius. We have no 
means of getting at the truth in Italy ; indeed, we have no aspi- 
rations after truth — we have no men of talent. Gioberti after- 
wards wrote five books in praise of the Popes and Popery. 
What are we to conclude, when in Italy, from the day of Charles 
V. until the present, whenever Italy has produced a great genius, 
he has been invariably persecuted by the Church of Rome ? 
Genius was not called into existence by the Popes ; a child of 
Italy, it was great in spite of the Pope ! 

The history of Rome is one of blindness, because it prevents 
all investigation. For one thing certainly, if for no other, the 
Pope is entitled to our gratitude ; that is, for the careful preser- 
vation of our great scientific and literary works, because all 
such works are forbidden, and stored away in libraries out of 
the reach of the people. 

Sometimes a few privileged persons are allowed to read them ; 
the people can only look at these works, they dare neither read 
them nor touch them. After centuries they are as new and fresh 
as if just published ; so this, at least, is one good thing. Now 
is this a government likely to maintain the prosperity of the 
people ? I made, a short time since, a comparison between Catho- 
lic and Protestant countries : I spoke of the temporal power of 
the Pope, and about the material miseries whicJi it inflicts. In 
Italy we have no social or national enterprises — no railroads, no 



THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 207 

telegraphs, none of the progressional institutions. Everything 
is established to support the Papal dynasty. We have no politi- 
cal or scientific institutions ; we have no professorships of me- 
chanic arts, no Sunday schools, no Bible societies. "We have no 
primary schools. In 1847, when we began to have a little 
liberty, we established a primary school for boys, and in a few 
months we had several very good and powerful reasons for es- 
tablishing more ; but now they are all destroyed. So you see 
that Romanists are the greatest specimens of blindness ever seen. 
"Wait a few years and you will see the difference between the Ca- 
tholic and the Protestant portion of the United States ; but what 
that difference will be you can see by reverting to the Catholic 
countries in Europe. What is the difference ? The Protestants 
are flourishing, and wealthy, and educated ; the Romanists de- 
pressed and uncultivated. In the Roman States we have the 
best soil in all Italy ; but what a wilderness — what a desert of 
sterility and squalor ! We have marshes of not less than forty 
miles, so that, although the Roman States are able to support 
more than fourteen millions of people, we have little more than 
two and a half. 

[Here the speaker retraced the comparative state of Switzer- 
land and Ireland, as in the preceding lecture.] 

In London, if you met in the street a very wretched looking 
woman, ugly, ragged, unclean, with her hair dishevelled, a child 
on each arm, another on her back, you would say immediate- 
ly, this is a Roman Catholic Irishwoman. Misery and poverty 
belong to Catholicism. Let me, now, produce some general sta- 
tistics from the census of 1851, of the United Kingdom. A state- 
ment of the number of criminals in England. During three 
months the number was, one for every seven hundred and fif- 
ty ; in Scotland, one in eight hundred ; in Ireland, one in every 
three hundred. Were they Protestants ? No. We have in Ire- 
land, in the county of Antrim, and five others, one million seven 
hundred thousand inhabitants, six Protestant counties in all. 
The Roman county of Tipperary, with four hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants. We have in the six counties, two thou- 
sand and thirty-four criminals ; and in the Catholic county, two 



SOS THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 

thousand one hundred and forty ; so that you have one hundred 
more criminals in the one Koman Catholic county than in the six 
other (Protestant) counties. How can such a result surprise us, 
when you can confess to some stupid priest for any sin you may 
please to commit, and receive absolution ? but among the Pro- 
testants, who teach that God is the only Keeper of their con- 
science, the people abstain from crime. 

We promised to speak about womens' rights; that is the 
American phrase ; we do not know what it means in Italy. "We 
know what are the rights of women in Europe. I shall say but 
little on this subject, women being rather excitable people. Cer- 
tainly, in Europe, we recognize the right of women not to so 
great an extent as here ; every nation has its own customs, and 
with national feeling, therefore, I do not interfere. 

It is an argument, that the more you extend the rights of wo- 
men, the better you will become. Ariosto wrote a poem in 
which he supposes that aU offices were given to women, to the 
exclusion of men. Now, with respect to womens' rights, I hope 
we have no necessity for claiming more right for women in Ita- 
ly. Italy has produced more remarkable women than any other 
country, and we respect our women. I remember one in 
Bologna, who was a great physician ; I knew another, who was 
professor of Greek in the University of Bologna ; and before her, 
another woman, Laura Bassi, had been professor of Mathematics 
in the first Italian university. 

We have, I know not how many poetesses. We have cele- 
brated women as painters and sculptors. When in Europe a wo- 
man has talent it is acknowledged and respected, but further we 
cannot go. We have many women who devoted themselves to 
help the defenders of their country against Austria and France. 
But those devoted to maternal cares are more respected than 
any. 

American ladies, you advocate womens' rights, but you have 
not found out that the capital enemy of woman's rights is the 
Papal system ; in that women are nothing. What are they in 
Italy, France, and everywhere where the Popish system rules ? 
nothing, except for occasional display for balls and courts; but 



THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 209 

for internal affairs they are nothing. In America men do not 
attend to their internal iirrangements, because the women do it 
for them. In my country, the master of the house is the Father 
confessor, the females are nothing: the confessors are the 
instructors of youth ; the people are miserable, because afraid of 
their mothers and wives, who are bound to denounce all liberals 
and patriots to the confessor, so that he may report them to the 
despots. 

Our families belong to the priests, by means of the enslaved 
women of Italy. 

One of our great triumvirs in Kome, perhaps the best, a high- 
ly respectable man, and greatly honored for his private and pub- 
lic morality, was obliged to leave his home, because his wife, was 
instigated by the Jesuits, so that every time she met him she 
reproached him, and in order to live quietly, he was obliged to 
abandon his wife and go into exile with his son. 

Take measures to claim rights for the Roman Catholic women; 
make them enlightened as you are at present, and then advance 
together in your claim for womens' rights ; but as long as you 
have slaves in the Roman Catholic women, while you allow nuns 
and nunneries among you ; oh ! no— abolish moral and spiritual 
slavery among Catholics, and then you will have womens' 
rights. 

Now, having spoken of the misery and blindness of the 
Roman Catholic system, let me warn you against a calamity 
which only the blessing of God can avert. 

Americans, are you reaUy persuaded that the Roman Catholic 
system is one of blindness, intolerance, and imposition ? If you 
are not so persuaded, let the poor exiled Italians inform you of 
the state of affairs in their country. They will teU you that but 
a few years shall pass before you will know, but too late, the 
truth of this prophecy. Thirty years ago, England was incre- 
dulous as you are at present, when "Wellington and Peel advo- 
cated the Emancipation. These leaders said that the Roman 
Catholics had a right to enjoy the rights of other citizens. The 
London Times, then supported the Emancipation ; thu'ty years 
have now passed, and people are repenting the Emancipation ^ 



210 THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 

the Duke of Wellington said, that if he had his life to live over 
again, he never would propose the emancipation of the Catho- 
lics, since it had been made the medium of attacking the free- 
dom of England, in order to establish a Papal dominion. 

Americans, vrithout rage, without warmth, but with all the ear- 
nestness of my heart, let me adjure you to take warning by Eng- 
land ! This is a practical lesson I would inculcate ; don't say 
we are in America, and no danger can happen here ; no, you 
don't know your enemy. That which has happened in England 
may happen here ; beware of the increase of the Romanists in 
your country. England repents to-day — may her repentance 
be a warning to America, and spare her repentance ! Now, the 
greatest fault that is found in my conduct is, that I am so deci- 
dedly against the Papal system. People say to me, more toler- 
ance, more kindness, more gentle words would^ affect more — a 
soft answer turneth away wrath. 

Some time ago Archbishop Hughes preached a sermon on the 
Decline of Protestantism in your country. He, a foreign priest 
in a Protestant country, preached against Protestantism! and 
in general the New York press reported him in full. Many 
magnificent leading articles, editorial remarks, and eulogiums, 
were published about this eloquent address of Archbishop 
Hughes. 

But now comes a Protestant priest, a foreigner, also in your 
country, preaching on the general increase of Popery in America, 
and the addresses of this man are mutilated, and he is blamed and 
censured by the press ; he is said to be a man of violence, his ap- 
pearance will be fatal to America. You remember what I said 
in my first lecture. I asked, am I in Eome, or am I in America? 
What was the answer ? You are in America. No, not in the 
America of which I dreamed in Europe — not in the America 
which I expected to find. No ! you do not expect the decline 
of Protestantism ; you do not know that allowing the rise of 
Popes and Popery is destruction to freedom ; you do not know 
that everywhere the Popish system is united with despotism, and 
that wherever there is an aspiration for freedom. Popery seeks 
to crush it under its feet. The fear of all nations is, therefore^ 



THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. , 211 

that in America the Popish system will be at last destructive, 
and destroy the freedom of the Americans. 

This is not yom- fear, I repeat. Heaven bless yon, oh, Ameri- 
cans ! for your faithful Protestantism, and for your Bible Socie- 
ties ; for these God will bless you. But if you grow negligent 
and slumber, God will not rouse you to warn you from the 
abysses which yawn beneath your feet. At this very day the 
Jesuits, priests, and missionaries, and ladies of the Sacred Heart 
of Jesus, and Sisters of Mercy, are at work in America to blind 
the American people. You don't believe, when I assure you 
from this platform, what the Roman Catholics have obtained 
from some pseudo Protestants. You think the Roman Catholics 
are an enlightened people, while everywhere they are blinding 
your children. They have taken the first step towards this, 
when they are enabled to exclude the Bible from your National 
Schools ! Oh ! Protestants, conduct your schools without Bibles 
— and expect that the rising generation will be enhghtened! 
No ! no ! If you are enlightened Americans, you are entitled to 
Eave the Word of God. 

But people say, we have to look after the appearance of this 
fatal man, pretending to be exciting the people against the errors 
of the Papal system, whilst really he is exciting the people to civil 
war and persecution of Roman Catholics. 

Now nobody can reproach me with that. But some say, look 
at Cincinnati, since the arrival of this man, what have we 
attained there ? A Protestant lecturer, who was on his way to 
deliver a Protestant lecture among Protestants, was prevented 
by the chief magistrate of the town. The Protestants say to the 
magistrate, this is not American freedom, to prevent a Protest- 
ant from lecturing ; and the people insisted on his proceeding, 
which he did. 

This is the bad result of Father Gavazzi's mission. But God 
will bless my mission, so that if this is the first result it may not 
be the last. If I had obtained no other result than this lecture 
in Cincinnati, I should thank God. If America is a free coun- 
try, freedom cannot be given to Papists alone to speak against 
Protestantism ; but the same liberty must be given to the people 



212 THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 

to preach against Catholicism. Some people desire tranquillity, 
and say we are good, quiet people in tranquil sleep, don't disturb 
us — we sleep so well we wish not to be awakened by any 
foreigner. 

If the Koman Catholic papers are engaged in this battle 
against me, I thank God for it. I like such kind of persecution. 
If the "Freeman's Journal" was now rejoicing in my mission 
and encom-aging my work, you would say Father Gavazzi is a 
Jesuit impostor. I am not to be deterred by any comments of 
the press. I am ashamed to be among such Protestants, and I 
will continue to enlighten the people of America, and to warn 
them of their dangers. 

I have spoken about politicians being led by the priests and 
archbishop; but I am a foreigner, and must not interfere in 
American politics. 

In my country, however, when we shall have expelled Pope 
and Popery, in order to prevent a restoration, we will make a 
law that no foreigners shall vote in Italy until they have lived 
there twenty-one years. 

Kemember that I speak of Italy, and not of America. 

Now, in this country. Archbishop Hughes has in his hands 
fifty thousand votes, and that number will increase every year. 
Some hundred politicians, I don't say at what price, obtain the 
whole of these votes from Archbishop Hughes, and yet you 
don't understand or know anything about the Koman CathoUc 
system. To-day, while it is in the minority, a few Protestant 
politicians may obtain their votes ; but when the majority 
become Catholics, then you wiU all come under the domina- 
tion of Archbishop Hughes. Then, members of Congress, magis- 
trates, will all be Catholics ; then your politicians who have led 
America into the power of the Pope, will be destroyed and 
deposed, to make way for Catholic functionaries. 

Now, in conclusion, did you mark what happened last week ? 
When I was in Baltimore, the Komanists strove to prevent my 
lectures, but they did not succeed. Th^y discovered that when 
an Italian undertakes to do anything, he will accomplish it, in 
spite of all opposition. I gave my two lectures without opposi* 



THE BLINDNESS OF POPERY. 213 

tion. You know also that several hireling ruffians were paid to 
break up my two free lectures in the Tabernacle. Some friends 
said, after the first lecture, don't give the second, there will be 
personal danger. But I replied, you know nothing- about it ; 
fear nothing for me. I have had so many thousand hisses 
of real bullets about me, that two or three Irish hisses cannot 
frighten me. Fear not for me ; my mission is in the hands of 
God. 

Ton have a good police ; and it is entitled to great praise for 
the tranquillity they obtained. It was the intention to prevent 
this lecture. 

Remember, Americans, that if I have done nothing else, I 
have promoted the Protestant cause, by showing them their 
interests. 

Remember, if I had not given my second lecture, the Catho- 
lics would have been encouraged, and have prevented all others. 
I said I would go to the last before Popery should stop me. If 
the Papists can succeed in silencing a free Protestant lecturer — 
no more lectures could be ever given, and there would be an 
end of all freedom of speech ; and in future it would be neces- 
sary to obtain a license from Archbishop Hughes. Remember 
my last words, which I cannot too often repeat. No persecution — 
leave the Romanists free ; no favor and no fighting, but constant 
watchfulness; because, in a few years they may be in the 
majority ; then there will be no peace, no nationality, no AmC' 
rican flag. Oh ! my dear Americans, you are not the Americans 
of Pizarro, but the Americans of Washington 1 



214 ON RELICS AND IMAOEa. 



LECTURE Vn. 

ON RELICS AND IMAGIH. 

My subject this evening, as has been announced, is that of 
Kelics and Images. It is a practical subject, and not a theoreti- 
cal one. I am here to speak concerning the practice of worship- 
ping relics and images. I shall give you, first, a few words in 
my own language, and shall then proceed to address you in 
your own. 

[After a short address in Italian, the lecturer proceeded iii 
English.] 

In speaking on this subject I shall distinguish three kinds of 
rehcs — relics of Christ, relics of the Virgin Mary, and relics of 
saints. The relics of Christ are many in Roman Catholic 
churches. We have the cross of Christ; the holy handkerchief; 
the tomb of Christ ; the cradle of Christ ; the nails of the cross ; 
the thorns of the crown; and the steps of Pontius Pilate, 
up which Christ ascended, and many others — but especially 
the nails. I select for animadversion only some of the most pro- 
minent of these relics. The naUs of the cross are said to have 
been found by the mother of Constantine. In the opinion of the 
Latin church, Christ was crucified with three nails ; according 
to the Greek church, he was suspended with four — one through 
each hand, and one through each foot. But we have one of 
these nails in Rome, one in Milan, one in Paris, one in Madrid, 
one in Naples, one in Modena, one in Cologne, and others in 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 2fl& 

other places. Ten, twelve, fourteen nails, all said to belong to 
the cross of Christ. In order to support this, the Eoman Catho- 
lic church accounts for the number of nails by saying that they 
served to nail up the inscription ; so that they are no longer nails 
of the sacred cross, but of the inscription. You will never fina 
any rehc in the Church of Kome, which has not some specious 
pretext — and certain it is that they need it. 

These nails, however, are nothing compared to others, for we 
have the entire cross — the real, true cross of Christ ; but it is 
necessary that my audience should be acquainted with the prac- 
tice of Eome. Every bishop must have a small piece of the 
cross of Christ, which he wears in an amulet on his breast. You 
have many thousand bishops, and therefore many thousand small 
pieces are scattered everywhere. We have over all the Chris- 
tian world no church which is without a piece of the holy wood 
of the cross. 

In Spain, in the Escurial at Madiid, and in the chapel of 
St. Denis, in Paris, are two great pieces of the holy wood 
of the cross. In Bologna we have a gigantic piece of the holy 
cross. In St. Peter's, at Kome, we have another gigantic piece, 
placed in the basilica, and dedicated to the holy cross. In other 
places there are other pieces quite as large ; so that, if you will 
join all these pieces together, you will have no longer the cross 
of Christ, but wood enough for thirty or forty crosses. 

Father Newman replies, it is a miraculous effect, because we 
believe that Christ has multiplied the holy wood of the cross. 
Ah ! I have the honor to tell Father Newman that material na- 
ture cannot be multiplied ; and, as belonging to inanimate nature, 
the holy cross cannot be multiplied. But I am told Christ multi- 
plied the seven loaves and five fishes, and made them suflfice to feed 
five thousand people. Yes, but the marvellous loaves and fishes 
were not the original loaves and fishes, but were another batch. 
Christ did not increase the original loaves; but other fishes 
appeared, and other bread, by the miraculous power of Jesus 
Christ ; because, if there had been but ten pounds of bread, not 
even Christ himself could give sufficient quantity in weight for 
each person in five thousand people. "We know by the inspired 



216 ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 

Word that tliough there were but five loaves and tvp-o fishes, 
Christ, by the use of prestigium or spiritual means, cannot 
multiply inanimate nature. Therefore I leave the argument to 
Father Newman. You insist upon the miracle. If there is any 
miracle in the increase of the holy cross, it cannot be done with- 
out some magical power, and therefore is not a miracle ; and if 
there was any multiplication of the cross, on which Christ gave 
redemption to man, it is by producing other wood ; consequently 
other wood is worshipped with the same worship as the really 
sacred cross. Thus the Romanists worship, as Christ himself, 
common wood, manufactured by the deceptions of the Romish 
priests. 

In order to obtain a piece of the cross it is necessary to make 
a memorial to the bishop. "When you apply to him for enough 
to make a relic of the real cross, perhaps he has none on hand. 
"Well, he can easily obtain this. A knife, a little piece of wood 
from the arm-chair, a little sprinkling of holy water, and we 
have the wood of the holy cross, worshipped and reverenced as 
Christ himself — such being the injunction of the bishop when 
he presents it, — for it is the holy wood of the cross (and belonged 
to my arm-chair). In the same way we have the thorns among 
the Romanists. That Christ was crowned with thorns is true. 
But how many thorns, think you, were in the crown? "We 
know from what tree this crown was cut. TVe have it every- 
where in Italy. On these trees are thorns three or four inches 
in length. Suppose there were eighty, ninety, or a hundred 
thorns in the crown — there could not well be more — because 
Christ had not on his head a mountain of thorns ; yet we have 
no great church, no royal family, no illustrious family, no mo- 
nastery, which does not possess one or more of the thorns of the 
cross of Christ. So that, suppose the crown to have had no more 
than one hundred thorns, new difficulty arises, because there are 
as many of these thorns in Italy as would keep up the holy fire 
of the most holy father in his most holy kitchen, and roast his 
most holy beef for a. whole week. 

You have another relic, the holy handkercnief. It is said that 
when Christ was going to Golgotha, a sympathizing woman wiped 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 217 

away the dust, and blood, and sweat, from the face of Christ 
with her white hnen handkerchief, and on taking it from his face 
she saw impressed thereon the face of Christ — and the handker- 
chief is at present at Rome, in the basiUca of St. Peter. Is there 
any mention of this in the Scriptures ? Do we learn anything 
in the gospel about this handkerchief? Christ and Peter said 
something about the desolation of Jerusalem, but they do not 
speak of this handkerchief; it is, therefore, not scriptural. It 
is not a logical handkerchief, because Christ, who died for us, 
was not permitted to be approached, even by his mother, and 
certainly could not have been by any other woman, when he 
was going to Golgotha. But if this story were true, have you 
never seen, when you use a clean linen handkerchief to wipe 
your face, that the handkerchief retained traces of your face? 
So it might have been with this relic with which the woman so 
kindly wiped the face of Christ, so that this pretended image is 
nothing more than sweat and blood, and by no means won- 
derful. 

This is not all — we have not only one, but several holy hand- 
kerchiefs ; we have undoubtedly two in Italy — one in Genoa, 
one in Rome. There is another version or tradition about this 
handkerchief. It is said that Andreas desired to see Christ, and 
sent messengers to invite him ; but Christ not being willing to 
^0, sent Andreas a handkerchief with the painted impression of 
his face upon it ; so that he was converted by this means. 
So that this handkerchief may be considered as an apostle or 
preacher of the Gospel. 

When St. Peter was preaching to the Philippians, before Cor- 
nelius Agrippa, he showed him a handkerchief of this descrip- 
tion, and so effected a conversion ; Abigail was converted at the 
sight of this handkerchief. Now, there are seven of these hand- 
kerchiefs, and each of the parties who possess them protests that 
his is the true relic. There have been many books written to de- 
fend and sustain the handkerchief at Rome as the true one. There 
have been many volumes written about the handkerchief at 
Genoa. This all produces a very interesting controversy, and in 
the midst of it all, who can tell which is the true handkerchief, 
10 



218 ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 

and which an imposition ? The truth is, they are all impositions ; 
and in this connexion, let me mention a very singular and enter- 
taining circumstance for the enlightenment of the Americans. 
What do you think was the name of the woman of the handker- 
chief ? According to Catholics, it is Veronica. This handker- 
chief, so venerated now in Rome, is of Greek origin ; or rather 
the legend is half Greek and half Latin. Of the picture it was 
said, 'oera icon of Jesus Christ, that is to say, this is the true 
image of the face of Christ ; vera icon means true image — people 
say, we go to see the vera icon, that is, the true image of Christ. 
That was especially in early times ; but when the Latin language 
was altered to the Italian, instead of saying vera icon, the people 
said, by corruption, we go to see the veronica, or the true image 
of Christ ; and so the people got it, that Veronica is the name 
of the woman who had the handkerchief when Christ was going 
to Golgotha. In the Church of Rome it is necessary to maintain 
these superstitions, so that we have in Italy many women called 
Veronica. It is especially a favorite name among nuns, and the 
Church of Rome pretends to believe that Veronica was the 
actual woman who wiped the face of Christ. Such is the origin 
of this superstition. The origin of all other traditions and relics 
resembles this, and is quite as well founded. 

Now, we have the steps upon which Pilate stood to pronounce 
the judgment of Christ ; they are conspicuous in the Church of 
the Lateran. You are not allowed to go to the summit, but 
merely to kneel on the first step, and on your knees you may then 
ascend. Why ? Because these steps were ascended by Christ. 

Kow, Pilate could have had but one step to his judgment seat, 
for yon can still see in Pompeii that the judgment seats of the 
Romans (the Jews were then under Roman dominion) had but 
one step called a diomed. These set of steps, however, are at 
St. John, as I have said, and also another at Bonn — the priest 
of both places maintains his to be right. Let us leave them to 
fight it out, and proceed to the last relic of Christ of which I 
shall speak, which is the cradle of Christ. There is one in 
Rome, in Santa Maria Maggiore. It has a beautiful shrine, pre- 
sented by Philip, of Spain ; and every Christmas Eve it is placed 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 219 

on the head of the altar, and the ceremonies attended by the 
Pope and the cardinals. This is the first cradle in which the 
Virgin Mary placed the new-born Christ. Its origin is not 
known. 

Father Newman says, in his lecture, that this cradle is as 
true a relic as the chair of St. Peter, in the basilica of the Vati- 
can, and it is worshipped with the same ceremonies ; so let us 
worship the cradle of Jesus in the true Christian way. Eeally, 
yes. Father Newman, the chair and cradle are on an equality 
with regard to authenticity. I am glad to entertain this general 
proposition of the reverend father, because the conclusion will 
be a clear one. We have proved already, in two lectures, that 
the chair of St. Peter, at Eome, is an imposition, because it 
belonged to the fifth century of the Christian era ; and, there- 
fore, was not the chair of St. Peter at all ; it was made four 
hundred years after the death of St. Peter. The chair of St. 
Peter, at Eome, therefore, is an imposture, and to worship it is 
gross idolatry ; but the cradle, we are told, has the same authen- 
tic origin; therefore, the worship of the cradle is idolatry. 

This is the logic I use against Father Newman : 

Now, if the Catholics are wrong when they worship with the 
Laterans such uncertain relics, their worship is worse when they 
worship those of the Virgin Mary. Certain it is that the Virgin 
Mary, in the first centuries of the Christian era, was not wor- 
shipped at all ; it is certain that the Virgin never would have 
been worshipped, if Christianity had remained in its original 
purity and simplicity. 

Many reproach me as being a blasphemer against the Virgin, 
and some people predict for me the same end as the heretic 
Nestorius. What is the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ ? I 
respect the mother of Christ ; I honor her, I love her, but I can- 
not worship the mother of Christ ; I call her blessed, I thank 
her. I can say of her, blessed is the fruit of her womb — her 
son Jesus Christ ; but I cannot worship her as I do Christ him- 
self; and when I say I cannot worship the Virgin, I am no 
blasphemer. The Eomanists blaspheme when they worship the 
Virgin Mary; worship Christ alone, invoke Christ, because 



220 ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 

Christ alone gave us eternal life ; Christ, not the Virgin, can 
atone for your sins. From Christ alone do we derive our faith, 
and not from the Virgin Mary ; and I am ready and glad to 
preach against the worship of the Virgin Mary, because the Vir- 
gin herself despises such bigotry and such idolatry ; worship is 
due to Christ alone, and to God. If the Virgin herself is not to 
be worshipped, her relics ought not to be held sacred ; in fact 
we have no relics of the Virgin. The first Christians, not wor- 
shipping the Virgin Mary, did not preserve any relics of her ; 
therefore, morally and materially speaking, we can have no 
relic ; yet many are reputed to exist ; many, many. "We have 
the wedding-ring when she became the wife of Joseph. It is 
set with stones, but so large, that the people in the present cen- 
tury say, was the Virgin a giantess, thirty or forty feet high ? 
This ring, they say, is too large for a woman ; and so the priests 
have changed the tradition, and call it the ring made for the 
hands of both spouses, used merely in the ceremony. This is 
the new Interpretation. We have also the dress of the Virgin 
Mary; also the head-dress of the Virgin Mary; and, in my 
country, we have the slippers of the Virgin Mary ; many 
churches, indeed, have her identical slippers ; we also have the 
veil of the Virgin ; this relic is everywhere — sometimes it is 
olack, sometimes white — but this is easily accounted for. Be- 
fore the death of Christ, she always wore a white veil ; after the 
death of Christ she always wore a black one, as for mourning. 
But you will say, it must have been a very large veil ; the Vir- 
gin must have been a fashionable lady, who changed her veils 
twice or thrice a day, and they must each have had ten yards. 
But, my dear brethren, it is not the veil of the Virgin, but a 
priestly fabrication. You know not how the Romans patched a 
little truth with lies. They take ten yards of thin stuff, they 
put in on the head of a statue of the Virgin ; for instance, on 
the statue at Loretto ; it remains twenty-four hours upon the 
statue ; then the priests take it away, cut it into small pieces, 
put each piece into a shrine, and present them to the faithful as 
pieces of the true veil. You Protestants say, this is a lie. No, 
it is not quite a lie, it is merely a mental reservation. It is not 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. ' 221 

the true veil of the Virgin, while living ; but since it has been 
on the statue, it may be said to be the veil of the Virgin. So, 
now you know the process of manufacturing relics. This, how- 
ever, is not all. The Virgin is so kind to her devotees, that she 
confers on them the best relic you can conceive. What do you 
think the Virgin gave to Spain and to Sicily — you will never 
guess it, it is is too extraordinary — too wonderful. It is fresh 
milk from the breast of the Virgin Mary ; we have plenty of it 
in Italy. In Sicily we venerate this fresh pure milk of the Vir- 
gin. It is rather astonishing, I am aware. As a good Catholic, 
I cannot deny the relic ; but as a mere Christian, I shall allow 
myself some doubts as to this milk. 

I shall review the belief among both Catholics and Pro- 
testants as to where the Virgin is now supposed to be. 
The Catholics maintain that she is body and soul in Heaven ; 
the Protestants say, she is not in Heaven, but is held in reser- 
vation on earth awaiting resurrection. But, in either case can 
she give fresh milk. Suppose her to be now, soul and body in 
Heaven ; the body is a glorified body — the glorified body can 
have no milk, and if it could, it could not be deprived of any- 
thing, as nothing can be added to a glorified body. She cannq^ 
eat to restore this milk, so as to have some to lose; so if her 
body is in Heaven she cannot give us her milk. We also know 
that Christ said, after the resurrection there shall be neither 
marrying, nor giving in marriage, but all shaU. be as the angels 
of God. Now, the angels of God have no milk, consequently 
the Virgin can have none, even if she is both body and soul in 
Heaven. But if only her soul is in Heaven, have you ever 
heard that the human soul can give milk ? What then is this 
said-to-be milk of the Virgin, reverenced in Sicily by all poor 
women, especially when they are suckling boys? — why it is an 
imposition ; but as milk is found everywhere, it is not difficult to 
present milk to the people. It is the general belief that this 
milk really flows from the Virgin ; and people are angry when 
we exclaim against all this reverence to the Virgin, and such a 
relic as I am now presenting to my audience. This idolatry 
among Papists reaches its height in the worsliip of the relics of 



'Saa ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 

saints. The Papists reproach the Pagans with worshipping ani- 
mals, stones, etc. ; hut the Papists, instead of that, worship the 
ashes, bones, blood, and skeletons of their saints and martyrs ; 
therefore, this is the last degree of idolatry. Within my time, in 
the reign of Leo XII., an ancient cemetery was discovered near 
the basilica of St. Lawrence. The Papists said, we have found 
another catacomb, another cemetery of martyrs. The skeletons 
found there were taken away, and declared to be the skeletons 
of martyrs; a few years after, an investigation was made, and 
these skeletons were proved to have belonged, as well as the 
cemetery, to ancient Pagans. This investigation alarmed Leo, 
and he closed the cemetery, and the affair was hushed up in or- 
der to prevent scandal to the Church. But the skeletons had 
been worshipped as martyrs of the Christian religion. This is 
the character of most of the Popish relics. 

Now, I will quote two instances to prove the authenticity of 
such relics. In Rome, we have three heads of St. Anna, mother 
of the Virgin, also one in Bologna. Have you ever seen in your 
time, a woman with three heads ? 

Now, it is asserted by some (not by me), that every woman 
Jias too much tongue in her head, that each woman's tongue can 
talk equal to five men, therefore, here we have three heads of 
one woman, consequently, three tongues equal to fifteen. Had 
she three heads ? if not, which is the true head ? some of these 
heads may have belonged to some Pagan women ; but to-day, 
they are worshipped as heads of the mother of the Virgin Mary. 

In Piedmont, in the town of Vercelli, in a church dedicated to 
St. Christopher, the tradition prevails among the Papists, that 
St. Christopher was a giant, so that in order to have a relic of 
this giant, the monks called Umiliati, (suppressed since the 
time of St. Charles Boromeo,) found a very large molar tooth, a 
very gigantic tooth, and this was enclosed in a shrine of gold 
and silver ; for many centuries the Piedmontese, and from other 
parts of Italy, came to worship the tooth of St. Christopher as 
a mediator with them and God. So late as this century, about 
sixty years ago, there was an accurate examination made of this 
tooth, and it was proved by the first anatomists that it was not 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 223 

a human tooth ; no, it was not ; it is still existing, and is shown 
as a curiosity in Vercelli. It is really the tooth of a hippo- 
potamus — ^it is a fact ; so that for centuries the people knelt in 
adoration before the holy tooth of a holy hippopotamus, and im- 
plored God thi'ough the medium of the holy tooth of the hip- 
popotamus ; they relied for the salvation of their souls on the in- 
fluence with God of the tooth of the holy sea-ox. What, there- 
fore, are we to conclude, but that it is Paganism to worship 
relics, and it is double Paganism when you put yourself in a 
position to be humbugged into the worship of not even the 
relics of men, but the relics of beasts ; therefore, leave the wor- 
ship of relics, and worship God alone, in spirit and in truth. 

But if the worship of relics is so stupid and revolting, what 
will you say about the worship of images ? The Papists say, in 
the face of the second commandment, that it is right to worship 
images ; and it is also true, that in order to worship images they 
must entirely violate the second commandment of the decalogue, 
and you cannot find in all their editions of the Bible the second 
commandment at all. Still, they pretend to have the ten com- 
mandments the same as the Protestants. Yes, ten command- 
ments ! But, though the Bible system is a connected system, 
the priests of Rome took the last commandment of the deca- 
logue, and like good upholsterers, cut in pieces the last command- 
ment in order to eke out the ten commandments. 

The second commandment, which forbids the worship of 
images, is cut off entirely, and the last commandment is divided, 
so that their ninth commandment says — " Thou shalt not covet 
thy neighbor's wife;" and the tenth, "Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor's ox, nor his ass," &c. In this way they justify them- 
selves for the worship of images. They also say, we do not 
worship really the image, for the visible object is only an emblem 
of the original object of our worship. But even under that in- 
terpretation they are idolaters, because Christ forbade the 
worship, not only of material objects, but also human objects — 
such as saints; all human objects, even the angels — all, all are 
forbidden, for God alone is God, and he alone shall be worship- 



224 ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 

ped by mankind ; therefore the worship of any object whatever 
is idolatry. 

It is usual to make pilgrimages to worship these images of the 
Papists. They go rather to an image than to an altar, and in 
order to satisfy all people, the Virgin Mary assumes different 
complexions in different places. In Rome she is white, in Bo- 
logna she is brown, and in Loretto she is black, so that every 
race can choose its own color. Here are more miracles, because 
it is a fact that some images are miraculous. "We have in Rome, 
at the Franciscan convent, a little baby. It is said that this 
baby belonged to St. Frances Domitius, to whom it was sent 
from heaven on Christmas eve'to personate Christ, the new-born 
Christ. Therefore this little baby was manufactured by the 
angels. It is rather more like a monkey than a baby, so that 
one must conclude that the angels in heaven are no great artists 
in the baby line — still they persist in the divine origin of the 
baby. On Christmas eve this baby is produced by the friars, 
and made an object of special worship. The great bishops, and 
even the Pope himself, send for this baby when they are sick, in 
order to regain their lost health through its means; it is, there- 
fore, called the little physician. This ugly baby is very richly 
dressed by the Roman ladies. You cannot find a queen arrayed 
in such rich diamonds, in such gems and jewels. But after all, 
it is only a wooden doll. Such is the worship of images. 

You have Santa Filomela, discovered some years ago in Rome. 
Her remains were enclosed in a doU made of rags and papier 
mache. It was carried to a church, and one night (these mira- 
cles always take place in the night) from pale she became bloom- 
ing and healthful. Another night-some beautiful curls appeared 
on her head, and the hair grew so long that it reached to the 
doll's feet, so that at last it became necessary to cut the hair, in 
order to prevent its covering the whole shrine; and all the 
people were lost in admiration of the miracle, a miracle per- 
formed by rags and papier mach6. 

In the church of St. Peter, under the top cupola, you have a 
brass statue of St. Peter in the act of blessing the people. This 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 225 

statue is worshipped by all, but more especially by the Roman 
clergy, and twice a year by the Pope himself, in great pomp. 

This St. Peter presents his foot, and all the people go and lay 
their foreheads on the foot of St. Peter in order to obtain their 
eternal salvation. This St. Peter, however, in the times of old 
Rome, was a statue of Jupiter. This St. Peter was originally 
made by a Pagan artist, established in a Pagan country, wor- 
shipped as a Pagan, and as a Pagan god. The Papists have only 
changed the name ; and when the priests kneel before this St. 
Peter and kiss his toe, they kneel and kiss what once was Jupi- 
ter. And if the ancient Romans were called Pagans because 
they worshipped this image, you, oh! modern Romans, are Pa- 
gans when you worship this Jupiter, whom you call St. Peter. 
Therefore, to worship relics is a Pagan practice, and must be 
excluded from the true Church of Christ. This is the reason 
why, in my last lecture, I exclaimed so loudly against all exte- 
rior signs of worship ; and this is the reason why I protest 
against the practice of many Protestants wearing distinctive 
marks or symbols of Christ. 

People say, you do not practise what you preach. At the 
same time that you are denouncing crosses you wear a cross on 
your own breast, therefore are you illogical. 

Why do you not begin your reform by yourself? By myself! 
This cross is not a Papal cross, not a Puseyite cross ; it is the 
banner, the emblem of our Italy, like the stars in your flag. 
Each town and city has its own special emblem, and many towns 
have a cross as their emblem. The armorial bearings of the town 
of Genoa is a cross ; those of many illustrious families have often 
crosses in their quarterings, but it is not a Papal cross. If ever 
my Italian brothers have another banner I will adopt it, and 
change this ; but as long as my country recognises this symbol 
of their independence, it reminds me of my duty against Austria, 
France, Pope, and Popedom, But my Italian cross I will not 
abandon whilst it has this meaning. This robe is my robe of 
mourning for our brethren of Lombardy. It was given us by 
our mothers and sisters in Italy, when we were marching against 
10* 



226 ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 

Austria to free Lombardy from its oppressors. We love oar 
symbols, then, and have a reason for it. Each morning it re- 
minds me that I am an exile, and that I have duty to achieve and 
injury to revenge for my brothers, murdered by vile assassins, 
now cold and motionless upon the plains of Lombardy. Mine 
is no socialist cry, but a legitimate, national appeal. Away 
with all foreigners from Italy, — ^let us be a free and indepen- 
dent nation. But if I am right when I retain my cross, which 
is neither Papist nor Puseyite, it does not follow that you are 
right when you accustom yourselves to crosses which are both 
Papist and Puseyite. So I repeat, you American ladies, kn^w not 
that crosses are Papal snares in your country. 

The Papists begin by inducing you to wear fine crosses, and 
then afterwards they get you to worship some images, &c. 
Many American ladies, from indulging in what they suppose an 
innocent fashion, will at last become Papists. 

When I was in London, the symbols of faith, hope, and cha- 
rity, were introduced, and the ladies wore them as a fashionable 
bracelet. Many of them adopt the crosses as a mere innocent 
fashion, and in the course of two years all these people are 
Romanists. 

Therefore avoid and expel all Papal symbols from your daily 
customs. Choose some better device. Wear on your breast your 
American eagle, put around it an American motto against 
Popery ; and if it is not right to wear a cross on the breast, it is 
worse to have them on the spires of American churches. 

You may say, it belongs as much to one church as to the other. 
Remember, however, that Protestantism in early days had no 
crosses. Knox and Oranmer had no crosses. Crosses are for 
the Protestantism of the present day, because it is on the decline ; 
and in certain quarters, the cross is the sign of the intermediate 
state between Catholicism and Protestantism. Now, I respect 
the cross, and when it shall be no more" an exclusive symbol of 
the Romanists and priests, when we shall all be in our graves, 
the cross can cover the remains of those dead in Christ, with 
great propriety ; but as long as the Romanists use a cross to dis 
tinguish their churches from those of the Protestants, those Pro- 



ON RELICS AND IMAGES. 227 

testants who adopt it will soon be converts to Romanism, Be- 
ware, also, of pictures and statuary in your Protestant Churches. 
It is said, that these statues and pictures may represent the his- 
tories of our forefathers. When the Councils of Nice and Con- 
stantinople forbade the use of images, it was objected that they 
represented our apostles and our martyrs. Were you to intro- 
duce pictures and statuary into your Church now, Protestants in 
a few years would worship them ; and so you will pave the way 
for future idolatry. No, as an Italian I admire and respect 
works of art ; but I say, place them in museums, galleries, pri- 
vate residences, and public buildings, in order to make them the 
glory of your country ; but take them away from our churches. 
We have the Gospel of Christ, the Commandments of the 
Decalogue, the divine Our Father who "art in Heaven, and these 
are all sufficient ; these are the inscriptions to engrave on marble 
in your churches ; these must remind you of your duties towards 
God and man. Away, then, with aU statues and pictures from 
all Protestant Churches. Christ, alone, is the only Divine object 
of worship. 



228 PIUS IX. 



LECTURE VIII. 

PIUS IX. 

The subject of this lecture is Pius IX. I shall show that the 
moral and political character of this Pope has been fatal to the 
Church and to Italy. I beg to inform my audience, that as I 
am about two great works, I cannot deliver any lectm-e next 
week as I had previously proposed. I have now provided for 
carrying out a plan which very much occupied me, of establish- 
ing the first Christian worship for Italians in the United States ; 
this has been a difficulty ; and now I have other work, and as I 
am not St. Anthony of Padua, and cannot be in two places at 
once, in order, therefore, to establish this here before leaving 
New York, I must take leave of my audience this week, so that 
the last lecture in New York will be next Saturday, after which 
I shall never address you again, in your hospitable town. 

To-night, I am to speak of Pius IX. "Who is Pius IX. ? He 
is a man only, a man and nothing more — some people mistake 
Pius IX. for an angel. No, no ; he is really a man ; nay, often 
less than a man ; his character has to be considered morally and 
politically, and we must consider him in his public and private 
capacity, but more especially in his connexion with the Church 
and with Italy. Now, in a few words, my dear friends — Pius IX. 
is a priest. "What, has. he been a priest? — what, will he ever be 
a priest ? — What do you mean when you say, Pius is a priest, a 
Roman Catholic priest? Nothing, "nothing for good purposes, all 



pirs IX. . 229 

for evil. Speaking with one of his own brothers, six months, 
before I went to Rome, he said to me, "My brother is a 
priest ; as an obscure priest, perhaps, as a parish priest in a vil- 
lage, my brother could have done some good; as a priest of the 
highest order, he would, no doubt, be charitable ; but as he has a 
very little mind, ' a very leetle small mind,' he will make a 
very bad pontiff, because his mind is not well balanced ; there is 
no equilibrium between his heart and head, so that the result 
must be bad. When a priest has a good heart but a weak 
mind, his rule must always be a feeble one. The last speaker is 
always right with such people, so that we shall have a very 
bad pontifical government." 

And so it has come to pass. We have at present a very bad 
pontifical government, because during the last two reigns the 
real sovereigns of Rome, were the Secretary-general, Cardinal 
Antonelli, and Rothschild, and the ambassadors of Austria and 
Bavaria. It is true that Pius IX. gained considerable reputation 
by his first acts of amnesty. But the American people are not 
aware of the motives which called them forth. 

When Pius IX. was archbishop in a town near Bologna, where 
he resided some years, he relieved all misfortunes, consoled all 
sorrows, and did so much good that it promised well for him, 
when he should be Pope. When the cardinals were in conclave, 
deliberating on the election of a Pope, one cardinal said that it 
would be necessary that the new Pope should grant an amnesty, 
because without this it would be impossible for him to reign. 
Therefore, the act of amnesty was the w^ork of the same man who, 
under the reign of Gregory XVI., was the instigator of all his 
tyranny, I mean Lambreschini. Now, if Pius granted an am- 
nesty, he, therefore, merly paid a tribute to necessity, and this 
act w^as not prompted by his heart. He did it because without 
it, Rome would have received him silently and coldly. Many 
things are known of him both in America and England, but not 
everything. You have heard the poetical things in our life, and 
left out the practical deeds. It is always customary at his coro- 
nation to grant some good things to the Roman States. This has 
always been the custom ; but when Pius became Pope nothing 



230 PIUS IX. 

was done for the Eoman States, so that Koine, which did not 
know Pius before his elevation, still remained silent and cold 
when she found that he did nothing for her advantage. Pius 
IX., who loves applause and cheers, is altogether a theatrical 
character, who would feign pass his existence among the 
applauses of his audience, — when he was received so coldly and 
so silently by the Romans, said, "Why do I not deserve 
applause ? Why do not the Romans applaud me ?" 

Circumstances were favorable to Pius, when he commenced 
his reign. He had a nephew in Rome, who, with his family, 
were good-hearted people ; and it was by their advice that he 
was at first induced to grant an amnesty, and thus to regain the 
ground he had lost. So you see, the act of amnesty, which at- 
tracted the attention of the world, was an act of necessity, and 
not prompted by the goodness of his own heart. 

In order to ascertain the true character of Pius IX. I will now 
make some statements of his duplicity of both heart and mind — 
what in Italy we call male fide. When the act of amnesty was 
sent to the provinces, the Secretary of State wrote instructions 
to all the governors, by order of the Pope himself, to put every 
obstacle possible in the way of fulfilling its conditions. This is 
a fact; because in Bologna, the people reproached the legate 
there for not making public the amnesty. This cardinal, in 
order to excuse himself, showed the order from the Secretary of 
State, by which he was enjoined to put every obstacle in the 
way of the amnesty. This was the first time in his reign in 
which he manifested that male fide which he has since so often 
shown. But, so astonished were the people by the publication 
of the act of amnesty, that all hearts were gained by the Pontiff ; 
and there was a general return of that sympathy and affection 
which had for so many years been lost to the Pontificate. The 
result was, that in Italy there was really a general revival of 
the ancient Popish faith, especially among the young men ; the 
whole population beginning to follow the rites of the Church 
with such strict observance as had not been seen before. But 
all was again lost by the Pope's apostasy. Now, it is necessary 
to watch his acts, and to look at every one of his acts, and a* 



PIUS IX. 231 

all tlie movements of his life — a life which ought to have been 
true and faithful. We must speak now of the male fide of Pius 
IX. We shall have many instances to offer of the arts of one 
whom his father confessor calls Monsignore ; he possesses the 
priestly art of saying one thing, when he means another. I, 
myself, was once imprisoned by order of Pius IX. ; not for 
immorality, thank God, but for having spoken against the 
court of Gregory XVI. When in Rome we discovered the 
plot against reform, by Pius IX., supported by the whole 
court and the Jesuits; and, therefore, when I spoke in the 
court for three days, Pius, ever the priest, ordered my impri- 
sonment. I was not consigned to a very severe monastery; 
but having within a few days received more than one thousand 
visits of condolence, Pius said it was necessary to transport to 
another place this dangerous man. This was on the first of Feb- 
ruary. A great friend of Pius IX., then Governor of Eome, at 
that time Minister of Police, tried to obtain my liberation. Pius 
IX. promised to grant it, and gave his Pontifical word, that on 
the next morning — namely, the second day of February, I should 
be released. I got this good news through a brother of mine, 
and went to bed in better spirits than I had done before. At 
midnight, people came and knocked at my door. I went to see 
who was there, and saw two ruffians. I was not to be frighten- 
ed by two ruffians. But Pius IX ! I was among the admirers of 
Pius IX., even though he had imprisoned me. Therefore, judge 
of my surprise when I asked, what is your business, and they 
answered, we are come for you. 

"Where?" 

" We cannot tell you." 

" Then, if you can give me no satisfactory account of your 
intentions, I shall not go with you." 

Then there was a struggle, and finding I was too strong for 
them, the ruffians said — 

" We are going to take you to Gensano, a distance of twenty- 
five miles from Rome." 

Very well. It was a very cold night. We went out of the 



232 PIUS IX. 

prison, and found a carriage near the Coliseum, and two or three 
hours after midnight we arrived at Gensano. 

In the morning the students and a multitude of people waited 
about the prison for the appearance of Gavazzi in Rome, hut no 
Gavazzi appeared. They then went to the prior of the monas- 
tery to inquire after me. The prior informed them that Gavazzi 
was no longer there, and that he knew not where he was. The 
friar did know, but then he was a priest, and they could not find 
me for five days. After five days the people learned that I was 
in Gensano, and in ten they obtained my release. Now this is a 
specimen of the good faith of Pius IX. ! this is the infallible 
word of the infallible Pius IX. ! Now from this case, if you take a 
general view, you will find in all the acts of Pius this double deal- 
ing, this male fide. I will quote especially two of his encyclical 
letters — one written at Gaeta, another from Portici. 

In the first of these letters the Pope ordered that there should 
be no universal sufii-age allowed in voting for the Roman assem- 
bly. He quoted a decree of the Council of Trent, section 21, 
which says that it would anathematize any one who should take 
any property belonging to the church. And upon this basis he 
wrote this encyclical letter, and says in it, that any one who 
votes for the deputies he will anathematize. 

Now this is a perversion, because when the Council of Trent 
spoke of the property of the church it spoke of the revenues of 
the bishops, the revenues of the church being especially for the 
pope and the bishops. What, therefore, had this text to do with 
his encyclical letter, which was to prevent the people fi-om 
voting ? First, the Roman States are not an ecclesiastical pro- 
perty, they are a real state, and the Pope in Rome is not only 
the pontiff, but also temporal prince and king. The Roman 
States, therefore, not knowing that it was a lie, not understand- 
ing Latin, and not having at hand the decrees of the Council of 
Trent, obeyed the Pope, believing that he quoted and gave the 
true meaning of the decree ; and therefore many abstained from 
voting in order to escape the threatened excommunication. 
Others braved it, and voted in spite of it. The great ma- 
jority laughed at such a lie, and voted according to their con 



PIUS IX. 233 

victions. But this is the male fide that he practised in order to 
carry out his plans. 

His second encyclical letter he wrote about the French, and 
against the Kepublic. He was not satisfied to have overthrown 
the repubUc, which arose out of his cowardly flight from Rome^ 
by means of the French accursed bayonets. He wrote an ency- 
clical letter against, the republicans, in which he calumniated the 
republican government and its acts. He calumniated them 
when he said, that in the time of the republic the Roman Catho- 
lic clergy were despised, and that the Catholic prelates in Rome 
had no authority in spiritual matters — lie ! lie ! ! — because the 
few monks and the few priests, not more than eight or ten out 
of the whole body of the clergy, who did dare to present them- 
selves before the Roman people, were everywhere respected, 
and treated among the Romans with special attention. The 
people, indeed, paid great honor to these priests. 

I saw these priests in Rome disguised as country-people and 
as private gentlemen — not out of fear Were they disguised, but 
to escape the trouble and fatigue of receiving the attentions of 
their fellow-citizens dm-ing the siege. We could not find more 
than thirteen or fourteen father confessors in Rome, and these 
were well treated. All the others had fled from Rome. It is a 
lie, then, to say that we despised and ill-treated the monks and 
priests ! We respected them at that time in Rome. We im- 
plored the assistant vicar of Rome to pray with us, and to cele- 
brate mass in the Vatican to the whole assembled republic, but 
he refused to accede to our wishes. He said, I cannot celebrate 
mass when the Pope is in exile ; so it was necessary for us to 
take some of the mihtary chaplains to perform the solemn func- 
tion, instead -^f having the Pope, then on the balcony of the 
Vatican, honored with flags and banners. We received the 
blessing of the holy sacrament from these chaplains. I, as one 
of them, spoke as a Papist, and presented the consecrated wafer. 
This was a good exchange for the Romans ; because, instead of 
having a blessing from the vicar of Christ, they had it directly 
from Chi-ist himself. Thus, you see, we were good Papists in 
the time of the republic. N'or is this all. Pius, in his encycli- 



^34 PIUS IX. 

cal letter, accused the republicans of having deprived their dying 
brothers of the last sacrament — the republican soldiers ! It ia 
impossible to find a more ignominious and revolting lie than this. 
I am an exile now for no other crime than that of having as- 
sisted my dying brethren in Rome in administering the last 
sacrament, and the other priests who did so were imprisoned 
and subjected to the severest penalties in Eome, because they 
assisted their dying brethren in the same manner. Therefore it 
is a lie, a wilful lie, asserted wilfully by the Yicar of Christ ! 

What were the wishes of the Yicar of Christ and the Cardinal 
Yicar of Eome ? They wished that all our soldiers should die 
without the sacrament, because they said afterwards that they 
were all excommunicated, all infidels, and all eternally damned ! 

If they received the last sacraments, they say Father Gavazzi 
and the other chaplains had no authority to absolve the dying 
soldiers. No authority ? I, as a Papist priest, received my au- 
thority on the eve of my departure from Rome. I received it 
from the Pope's own brother, and I therefore was endowed with 
an authority which never had been taken from me. So all the 
priests in the churches at Rome advised me to absolve the dying 
brethren ; and, therefore, when Pius IX. wanted to prevent my 
absolving them, it was a cruel revenge against the glory of Italy. 
This is not all. This Pope in his encyclical letter insulted om* 
Italians, especially om- Roman women. 

"When the French approached Rome, when the Roman Assem- 
bly decreed to resist the French invasion, I caused hospitals to 
be prepared for our wounded brethren. But in order to be cha- 
ritably assisted I appealed to the Roman ladies ; and, in less than 
two days, six thousand Roman ladies signed a paper, in which 
they pledged themselves to assist gratuitously the'wounded and 
dying in the hospitals, and they faithfully fulfilled their promises. 
They were six thousand angels at the dying beds of our Roman 
soldiers. By their kindness, their gentleness, their afiection, 
they consoled the last moments of those who had so nobly laid 
down their lives for Italy. These six thousand women-angels 
from heaven — in purity of character — from all classes of society 
— ^these six thousand ladies, so cheerfully benevolent, so full of 



PIUS IX. "" 235 

charity, were called by Pius IX. — what do you think ? — six thou- 
sand prostitutes ! Oh ! American women, arouse your indigna- 
tion against this Yicar of Christ in such a cause, in defence of 
your insulted sex, against the priests of Kome. Such is the 
moral character of this so-called Yicar of Christ. "We have from 
him every species of immorality. He fled fi'om Kome in com- 
pany with a woman. His guardian angel was a woman. St. 
Peter, when he was delivered from prison, had an angel from 
heaven as a guide — but the guide of Pius IX. from Rome was 
the wife of the Minister of Bavaria ! "When danger came near 
Rome, if he had been the true shepherd he should have remained 
in Rome ; but because he was a false shepherd he fled, and 
sought the protection of the j^eapolitan tiger. 

All kinds of public and political immoralities hd,ve been com- 
mitted by Pius IX. He blessed the Czar of Russia and the newly 
made Emperor of Austria, because they helped to restore him 
to his throne, but with the same tongue cursed Belgium and 
Piedmont because they were escaping from the usurpations of 
Rome. More than this ; Pius IX. entered the hospitals of the 
wounded and gave them his especial malediction. But to the 
French who were wounded, Pius distributed rosaries, medals, 
and crosses of honor. He did this to the Frenchmen who killed 
his subjects. At the same time he allowed the bones of our 
soldiers to remain unburied ; so that to this day the traveller is 
disgusted to see, without Christian burial, the bones of so many 
Christians, merely because they vv'ere excommunicated, and be- 
longed to the accursed. Such is the Yicar of Christ ! This is 
he who was cruel enough to shut up in a prison of Rome an 
affectionate mother, because she was found shedding tears over 
the grave of her only son ! If Satan has a vicar in this present 
world, he is certainly to be found in the person of Pius IX. ! 
This is his moral character ! 

Even if you were to doubt his character, you cannot doubt or 
change the character of his government. Pius IX., as I have 
said, is merely a poor priest. A priest even when talented is 
always a bad politician, because it is not the proper sphere of the 
priests to be in politics. Therefore, the good clergymen remain 



236 PIUS IX. 

with the churches — bad clergymen make their way to the forum ; 
therefore you have there all bad Jesuits, and when they get into 
the forum they are bad politicians. Pius IX. is not a good poli- 
tician, and is a very bad priest. The weakness of his mind pro- 
duces the misery of his subjects. What can Italy obtain from 
such a Pope? Neither nationality, nor independence, nor 
liberty. 

When a son loves his mother he speaks ever of his mother, 
he seeks her society, he caresses his mother, and before he sleeps 
he seeks the blessing of his mother, in his sleep he dreams 
of his mother. Such is a good and a%ctionate child. Now 
when a man loves his native country he devotes his heart to 
his native country ; he speaks for it, he works for it. If Pius 
IX. had been a good Italian he, must have loved his dear 
country. 

But look at the first advice he gave me in 1847, the first time 
I was presented to him, in a private audience, by his brother. 

I spoke of Italy, and said, all Italy is looking to you. And 
he replied, oh, Gavazzi ! don't talk to me of Italy — Rome, if you 
please ! I felt like a man who, on the point of drinking a good 
glass of wine, finds it is iced water. 

"Not Italy, holy Father? What will you do for the Ro- 
mans ?" 

" I will do for them what I can, but don't speak to me of 
Italy." 

From this moment I began to be suspected. I was watched 
narrowly, and when I was asked to preach on the day of the 
coronation, in " Santa Maria degli Angeli^'''' my sermon was re- 
vised by the Cardinal Yicar of Rome before I spoke it, and 
wherever the name of Italy was found it was struck out ; and I 
was ordered to have two copies prepared, one for my own study, 
and another in order to see if I omitted the parts which the 
pen of the inquisitor had erased. When I spoke of Italy in the 
University, the result was that I was imprisoned, as I before 
stated ; therefore Italy was really a word forbidden by Pius IX. 
What can you expect from such a Pope, when nationality was 
proscribed ? 



pirs IX. 237 

"When I was in Rome, my comitrymen sent me a beautiful tri- 
coloured flag, and the Roman people were about to receive with 
honor the baimer that came from Bologna, and great prepara- 
tions were made ; the military and music were collected, and 
not less than twenty-five thousand people assembled to receive 
the Bolognese flag. Cenato carried the Bolognese flag ; when the 
Pope appeared on the balcony, we said, here. Holy Father, is the 
banner from Bologna. Pius IX. never even looked at this flag, 
to bless the tri-colored banner of Italy. 

When aU the Italian flags were being taken to the Quirinal, 
we found that at the foot of the Quirinal were posted gens 
d'armes, to prevent any one from going to the Quirinal. So that, 
except for the sake of popularity, when he affected it, there was 
no true feeling of nationality in his heart. 

One day, he blessed Italy from the balcony of the Quirinal ; 
and another day, he said, we rest satisfied that God will bless 
Italy ; but it was a magic word. In a few hours this magic word 
spread throughout Italy — even to Sicily ; and everywhere the 
people said, God must bless Italy, that is so blessed by his repre- 
sentative. And then all arose to achieve the independence of 
Italy. In Rome we preached the crusade. I went to Pius 
before we marched, in order to obtain his blessing for the cock- 
ade. He replied, I cannot give my blessing to this cockade. 
After this we marched to Venice, and we suffered bravely for 
more than forty days. On the eve of our first struggle with the 
Austrians, we received notice that Pius IX. had signed a treaty 
with Austria. Therefore, our crusade was cut off, and we were 
no longer the right hand of Charles Albert. This was our first 
real disaster — the apostasy of Pius IX. A descendant of St. 
Charles Boromeo, an exile in Piedmont, wrote that Pius was 
really for Italy ; because he called the cause of Italy, safe, just, 
and right. You call the cause of Italy, safe, just, and right, and 
then you abandon it. You call it right, and afterwards you 
betray the Italians into the hands of the Austrians, and other 
foreign invaders. Ah ! when we thiftk that Pius IX. persecuted 
the work we were achieving, because the Austrians were the 
children of the Pope, we cannot but look with contempt on such 



238 PIUS IX. 

subterfuges. The Pope said, I cannot make war Trith the Aus- 
trians, because the Austrians are also the spiritual sons of the 
Pope. But, after a few months, this Pius himself, who refused 
to make war with Austria, because her people were his children, 
himself, he made war upon his own children at Kome, and 
slaughtered thousands and thousands of them by means of the 
French troops, the Spanish and the ISTeapolitan armies. So that 
the Pope, who deprived Italy of the crusade against the barba- 
rians, made a barbarian crusade to deprive Italians of liberty. 

Now, what can you expect from such a Pope ? Certainly his 
first acts appeared to the astonished world a very good begin- 
ning. But know, ye people, that this reform was obtained from 
Pius IX, by our flatteries and applauses. Oh! if any in my 
audience had been present in Kome at our banquets, he would 
have seen that we spoke the truth. When we asked reform, 
Pius always answered, no ! We assembled together in council 
on the Piazza del Popolo, a square near the Yia Faminia. We 
had music and torches in our procession. The next day ten 
thousand people met on the Piazza del Popolo. We marched in 
good order to the Quirinal, with a military band at the head of 
each thousand of people; four or five thousand torches, and 
twenty thousand candles. Before we reached our destination, 
this procession increased to about forty thousand. Then there 
were shouts of applause and vivas to Pius ; and, in about half an 
hour the great balcony was opened, and Pius IX. appeared, fol- 
lowed by a regular procession of prelates and cardinals. They 
were enthusiastically received by the crowd. The Pope im- 
plored heaven, and gave us the desired blessing. It was quite a 
theatrical exhibition ; because, when Pius IX. came to pronounce 
the blessing, the air was illuminated with red and blue fires, as 
in a theatre. When Pius gave his blessing, we put our torches 
out, so that the square got very dark. Then from the palace 
of Prince Oolonna arose a stream of fire, and all the sky was 
illuminated ; and when Pius IX. said, God bless you, the color 
of the fire was changed, so that all looked white. Then our 
petitions ascended to him, and he granted them, for he feared the 
cannon ; and all we ever obtained from him was obtained in this 



PIUS IX. 239 

way; not from the Jbeart, but from the applause of the Qui- 
rinal. 

If you, as repubhcans, and as a free people, look seriously at 
our affairs, you will see that our reforms were unsound, super- 
ficial, insufficient. After three principal reforms had been 
granted, the Cardinal Minister said, this is sufficient. You mist 
now stop. Oh ! yes, if you give to a thirsty man two or three 
drops of water, these two or three drops cannot extinguish his 
thirst ; therefore, it is necessary to give more to extinguish his 
thirst. So, two or three reforms to the people availed nothing ; 
but after enjoying the first reforms, the people crave others. 
The Pope never granted any reform to his own disadvantage. The 
Pope said to Father Yentura, I cannot concede any more reforms, 
which attack my own power, because I swore to maintain and 
to transmit unimpaired to my successor, my spiritual and tempo- 
ral power, as I received it from my predecessors — thus the liber- 
ties of Italy were lost, If the Pope was obliged by the people to 
grant a constitution with a responsible ministry, that is the 
shadow of a constitution ; and, therefore, aU our reforms came 
short of the just wishes of the people. But, Pius did not grant 
the constitution and reform as was necessary for his subjects, but 
he persecuted his subjects who worked for the sake of liberty. 
Oh ! my dear brethren, then we thought very coldly of Pius, 
and we said, he is a priest. He styled himself the Yicar of 
Christ ; but this Yicar of Christ condemned to be shot one hun- 
dred and fifty innocent Koman subjects, who had been imprison- 
ed for four years, implicated in some charges pertaining to the 
revolution of '48 and '49. 

Americans, if in your country any one becomes criminal, and 
acts against American liberty, you condemn him. After a few 
months of imprisonment, you give him a public trial ; but after 
four years and a half of imprisonment, without any kind of trial, 
to see a hundred and fifty men shot by order of the Priest of 
Rome, called the Yicar of Christ, is a horrible spectacle — is a 
disgrace to Christendom. Another instance of the cruelty of this 
man, and called till to-day, even by some Protestants, an angel 
of peace, and a good-hearted man, and a liberal Pope. My poor 



240 PIUS IX. 

companion, ITgo Bassi, my dear Ugo Bassi, who was young, hand- 
some, endowed b}- God with talents and estimable gifts — a great 
scholar, knowing Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French — instructed in all 
fine arts, playing on three or four instruments, a connoisseur of 
pictures, excelling as an orator, without rival in the eloquence 
of the pulpit, one of the finest poets among the Italians, an 
ardent patriot, without bigotry, without superstition, of the 
severest morality in the habits of his life ; my dear companion, 
my own friend, Ugo Bassi, who was with me, and who preached 
the Italian crusade ; Avho was taken prisoner, who was wounded 
on the field of battle, who was especially with the glorious 
legion of Garibaldi : Ugo Bassi, so kind, so young, so talented, 
so dear to all Italians, was shot, by order of Pius IX., in his 
native City of Bologna, where his mother was living. Be- 
fore he was shot, he was degraded from the priesthood — the 
skin of his scalp and hands was gashed by the inquisitors, and 
in the morning, on the very spot where he had preached the 
liberty of Italy — amidst the tears of the Austrian soldiers who 
were commanded to shoot him, he fell, by seven bullets, crying, 
with expiring love — " Long live the Church of Christ, and Italy." 
Such is Pius ' IX. with the Italians, Avith priests and monks. 
Oh ! my dear Americans, remember not to confide yourselves to 
this Pope. 

Hear my last words. If Pius IX. has done nothing for Italy, 
so Pius IX. will never do any good for America, to which he is 
a stranger. Remember that God is just ; that God no doubt has 
permitted the appearance of Pius and his apparent reforms for 
two objects — first, to bring all people together in the true spirit 
of Christianity; or, in other words, when Pius appeared as a 
reformed Pope, England, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, 
New Grenada, Mexico, Brazil, America, Greece, Turkey, alj 
went to Rome to do homage to the Pope, by means of messen- 
gers and ambassadors, to congratulate him as the first popular 
ruler, and the first who granted an amnesty. So that in a few 
years, if Pius IX. had been faithful to his first reforms, my dear 
brethren, the great majority among the Protestants would have 
become Romanists, The other>object of his appearance is, that 



PIUS IX. 241 

4 

Pius IX. might produce in Italy a sense of Italian nationality. 
As in the first instance he has proved possible the universal fra- 
ternity among Christians, and among every nationality of men ; 
in the second instance, Pius has proved possible the unity of the 
Italian provinces, in order to obtain independence and nationality. 
Therefore, by the first appearance of Pius IX. we have two good 
things — namely, we have now the first indication that it is pos- 
sible to obtain a universal brotherhood among Christians, not 
under Popes, but under Christ ; secondly, that it is possible to 
obtain union among Italians, not under Popes, but under the tri- 
colored flag of the republic. 

iSTow, therefore, do not allow yourselves to feel grieved that 
Pius IX. was not faithful That is my conclusion. Thank God, 
Christian America, for Pius IX. Thank God for Pius's apostasy 
to liberty. 

If Pius had been faithful to his first reforms, at present, no 
doubt, I should be a fervent Papist, and no Papists would be 
thinking of abandoning this system, and about crushing this 
Papal impostor. We thank God for the political apostasy of Pius 
IX., because to-day it is possible to speak against his temporal 
and spiritual power. 

We thank God that to-day the Italians are no longer deluded 
on this subject ; to-day the Italians know better than before the 
great truth spoken by Machiavelli — " While the Pope remains in 
Kome, Italy cannot be free." I repeat what I said in another 
lecture, " We desire to have an independent Italy, we wish to 
obtain the freedom and independence of Italy ; but because Pope 
and Popery are the greatest enemies of independent Italy, we 
swear upon the altar of om* native Italy, we swear before God 
and the Christian world, to overthrow, to destroy, to annihilate 
Popery and the Pope in Italy!" 



11 



242 THE INQUISTTION AND THB MADIAI. 



LECTURE IX. 

THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAL 

Mt subject this evening is the Inquisition of Rome and the 
Madiai. I shall prove that the Inquisition is the father of crime 
and cruelty, and then I shall speak briefly upon the Inquisition 
as it existed in Rome in 1849 ; and, finally, upon one of the most 
celebrated trials of Italy, that of the Madiai. 

Over princes, kings, and emperors, was the power of the In- 
quisition. Over all but the affiliated of that tribunal, against 
whom, to make a trial, it was necessary to obtain a special 
license from Rome or from the High Inquisitors ; so that from 
the beginning until to-day all Popes have granted privileges to 
the inquisition and to the inquisitors. We have not less than 
twenty-four bulls, which conferred the last degree of power upon 
the inquisitors; and they have subjected to the control of the 
Inquisition, by means of these bulls, even Mahomedans, Jews, 
and Turks, as well as Protestants, not only Avhen they live in 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but even Avhen removed from it, in 
their native country. It is stated that every dogma is under the 
control of the inquisitors ; for instance, even that of the Jews ; 
so that, examining seriously tl^e bulls of the Pope with regard to 
the Inquisition, you can only conclude that the Popish system 
will not tolerate any other They would rather people were in- 
fidels than Christians, without the pale of their church. And 
in order to maintain this power the Inquisition solicited the pro- 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 243 

tection of princes and rulers. It is true, as I stated before, that 
all these potentates were under the control of the inquisitors. 
You know that the inquisitors were always very wary and pru- 
dent in dealing with these high personages ; but when they had 
to do with the poor people, and people of the middle classes, 
especially when there was money to be obtained, they were very 
severe, especially in Spain, where the Inquisition was so very 
severe, whose kings, though guilty of every immorality, they 
never presumed to attack. "We have the most Christian king 
of France, with seven mistresses, but the Inquisition had nothing 
to do with that ; so that Louis XIV., surrounded by a legion of 
illegitimate children, was still a great king of France. "Why ? 
Because he revoked the Edict of N'antes, thus committing to 
exile the Huguenots of his kingdom. This one act obliterated a 
multitude of sins. 

So was it that the Inquisition dealt with princes and rulers. 
If not blind to their faults, it was at least tolerant, and in return 
for this tolerance, kings and princes everywhere' protected the 
authority of the Inquisition, and left unpunished all the atrocities 
committed, so as to be aided themselves by the Inquisition in 
their political cruelties — so that it became an association of ra- 
pine, despotism, and cruelty. If you will aid my politics, I, king, 
will sanction your cruelties. In this w^ay was Christianity made 
the victim of this power, supported by an army of ruflSans, 
called in Spanish the San Hermarudad^ being really an attack on 
her freedom and purity, and under pretence of 'the honor and 
glory of Christ. 

In order to have a just idea of such an army of inquisitors, I 
can say something about its organization in Italy in the reign of 
Gregory XYI., and it is no better to-day. 

We were so di-eadfully oppressed, especially by the police, that 
in order to escape their surveillance, many asked, as a particular 
favor, to form a portion of it, by becoming spies and emissaries of 
the Inquisition. You, in America, wiU hesitate to believe this, 
because you enjoy both civil and religious liberty ; but if you 
put yourself into the condition of my Italians, twenty years ago 
— not now, because no true Italian to-day will serve the Inquisi- 



244 THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 

tion — we prefer death to being sbirri or servants of the Inquisition. 
But twenty years ago, before the last struggle of Italy, we, with 
the great majority of the Italians, were also blind. 

Twenty years ago in Perugia, a town of twenty thousand inha- 
bitants, in a province of sixty thousand, the Inquisition numbered 
not less than five thousand emissaries and rufiians. This was in 
Perugia, where I lived nearly two years. And in order to ex- 
plain such a coil, you must remember that these people were 
driven into it by the oppression of the civil police. Why ? be- 
cause when a man was an aflSliated of the Inquisition, and was 
its obedient servant, he obtained a card of free circulation, and 
by means of this permit he could carry arms, and was not 
watched by the gens d'armes, nor by the police. 

Thus, to escape the tyranny of the police, many even among 
the aristocracy became sbirri or servants of the Inquisition ; and 
so did it increase its influence over society. And in order to 
give you an idea of this tribunal, in this particular business, I 
will now speak more especially of its nature. 

Trials in this tribunal were always against right and justice. 
Justice cannot be rightly administered without publicity. If 
you have secret trials, secret tribunals, and secret combinations, 
you will never be certain that justice is properly administered; 
and, therefore, in your America, as I find in England also, you 
are happy, because all is public in the administration of justice. 
Not only that, but you have a trial by jury, the guarantee of 
justice to the accused, and by which your judges are controlled, 
and have little to do but to confirm the sentence of the jury, ap- 
plying to it the letter of the law in each particular case ; there- 
fore the administration of justice must be right. This is not the 
case in the tribunal of the holy office, because it is in the power 
of all (by bribery and other means) to put into prison innocent 
victims. When an accusation is brought, the very accuser liim- 
self can be a witness ; therefore the accuser and witness are one 
and the same person. Witnesses are never confronted with tlie 
accused. Witnesses have to swear never to divulge anything 
beyond the precincts of the Inquisition, and the inquisitors never 
betray him. No Jury, no freedom of defence, for the defuiu-j 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 245 

allowed is but a sliadow — a barrister being appointed by tbe In- 
qiijisition itself. The trial is secret — or the sentence without 
trial equally secret — so that in the greater number of instances 
we may suppose, nay, be certain, that sentences were unjust, be- 
cause the judges were all parties interested in condemnation. 
The judges were monks, generally speaking, ignorant men, espe- 
cially in all civil matters ; acquainted with nothing but theology ; 
cruel by profession, because it is stated in the code of the Inquisi- 
tion tliat the judge must show himself so in face, words, and deeds. 
Then they also were rendered cruel by education, Komanism 
leading to sternness and cruelty, the few benevolent and charit- 
able in that creed being but exceptions. Holy and charitable 
men among Roman Catholic priests are few ; therefore the great- 
est part of the priests are priests of the devil ! 

The judges in free countries, such as here and in England, are 
not necessarily severe in aspect, but merciful, and predisposed to 
leniency towards the criminal. "Why are they so ? Because, 
generally speaking, they are husbands, fathers, and citizens ; they 
have social and domestic affections, and so can feel for others. 
Now, among the inquisitors we have nothing of this sort, be- 
cause they belong to the Eoman Catholic clergy, who profess 
celibacy ; therefore they are without affection. When a man is 
neither a husband nor a father ; when by his sectarian profession 
a man is no longer a citizen, we must conclude that he becomes 
a cruel man. He vents his rage against the world, and thus are 
most priests cruel. It is for them a matter of rejoicing, when 
they have condemned any to torture and death. 

We have instances in Italy, especially in Sicily, of this fact. 
During the executions, the inquisitors will often chant " Te 
Deumy In Seville, during the execution of more than three 
hundred criminals, they chanted the " Tg Deum''' with music, 
and afterwards dined with the authorities— di'inking and making 
merry over the ashes of their victims — and they considered the 
auto-da-fe^ at which thousands were burned, a great festival in 
honor of Christ. 

This is the organization of the Inquisition. ISTow, in England, 
it was whispered to me, " but. Father, you speak against cell- 



9^ THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 

bacy." " Yes, because celibacy is tbe source of immorality ;" 
but this I have no time to develop to-night. You, in America, 
are fully aware of the morality of the Roman Catholic priest- 
hood, in their communications with their most holy, spiritual 
daughters. But I will not enlarge on this subject now ; at least, 
no further than to support my proposition, that celibacy is the 
cause of cruelty ! Many will think that I speak against the ce- 
libacy of the priesthood, because those priests who have joined 
Protestantism have often done so in order to marry rich wives. 

My dear brethren, if many have abandoned the Church of 
Rome to marry, in my case there will be an exception. No, I 
am not going to seek the companionship of a beautiful and affec- 
tionate woman, either American or English. The wife of my 
bosom, to whom I have dedicated my life, my heart, the ener- 
gies of my mind, the affections of my soul — ^is my country, my 
dear, my beloved Italy ! To her I shall be ever faithful ; for 
her I shall live, for her I shall die, that I may free her from all 
tyrannies — from Pope and Popery. 

In order to extort or obtain confessions from the accused, 
they employ Jesuitical men. One of the first directions is — 
and I quote from leading works — " When the victim is presented 
to the tribunal the inquisitor must have in his hand a paper ; 
he shall look all the time on this paper, whilst saying to the 
culprit, your are guUty — I know your crimes, you had better 
confess them, and you wUl obtain mercy." The prisoner supposes 
that on this paper the crime is really recorded. It is said in the 
book that the paper must be black, without any trace of writing. 
Then they conduct the accused before a crucifix, before which 
two lights are burning. Supposing the inquisitors really to know 
something of his life, he perhaps confesses having committed 
some crime. For, if ^a man should make a spontaneous confes- 
sion before fifteen days from the time of his imprisonment, he is 
promised some indulgence. What do you suppose he obtains ? 
Why, to be strangled or burned alive, instead of some bloody 
death ; so that he has actually been made to confess a crime 
hitherto unknown to the inquisitors, who, taking advantage of 
the confession, conclude the trial and condemn the criminal. 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 247 

Another device to obtain confession was, to put the criminal 
in prison, and after a few days send to him one of his friends. 
This friend says, " Fear nothing, no harm will come to you ; I, 
too, was imprisoned — they were very kind to me. I confessed, 
aod was acquitted and set free." The criminal usually believes 
tliis apparent friend, and he is treated with dinners and wine, 
of which he partakes with his friend ; and often, after one of 
these repasts, he will say, " I did dishonor the worship of the 
Virgin Mary," or "I did deny the real presence," etc., etc. 
After this confession the door of the prison suddenly opens, 
and an inquisitor, who had been always silently watching, listen- 
ing, and peeping, rushes in. Now, says he, you have confessed, 
come with me into the chamber of the Inquisition and repeat 
what you said here, for that alone will suffice for your 
expiation. And he usually goes there and confesses in 
presence of others. Now, having obtained all this from their 
victims, they are sentenced, and few out of the thousands who 
are condemned ever escape with their lives, and those who do, 
endure five or ten years of close imprisonment — a term which 
none ever reach. The usual punishment is death, or the galleys 
for life. 

"What, now, was the condemnation to death ? There were two 
ways of execution ; one secret, the other public. The Church 
of Kome says, that it never did, nor ever will, spOl human 
blood. Before coming to the torture, of which many died, the 
Father Inquisitors invoke three times the blessed name of Jesus 
Christ, and say — If, during torture, any of your members are 
burned or broken, it is not the Inquisition, but you yourself who 
do it. And this is nothing but a Jesuitical, mental reservation. 

As to the Chm'ch not spilling blood, the Inquisition never shed 
human blood, because the Inquisition condemns to two kinds of 
deaths — namely, strangling and burning ; so that without shed- 
ding blood, it was really the executioner of many, many thou- 
sands of people. 

Now, in order to have an idea of the secret death, I can tell 
you of people burned in some dark dungeon. This, however, 
was nothing compared with the other torture by water. The 



248 THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 

victim was made to sit down on a liard stone in the middle of 
the prison, with his arms hound behind him ; on his face wa? 
placed an iron mask, which was opened bnt once or twice a day, 
when a Dominican friar went to give the victim bread and 
water, his daily food. Over his head continually dropped one 
drop of water, and this drop, from his being bound in one posi- 
tion, always fell on the same spot ; after a few days the hair 
was worn away, the skin was macerated. Week after week, 
sometimes year after year, this drop continued to fall, till his 
skull was perforated, and then the first drop reaching the brain, 
was the merciful drop which terminated the sufferings of this 
poor victim. Such was one of the private executions, decreed 
by these men for the glory of Christ. 

The public, doubtless, is well informed on the subject of the 
auto-da-fe^ where, on piles of faggots, a dozen victims or some- 
times a hundred, are consumed. In order to conceive an idea 
of the charity of these priests, in several States, as late as 1822, 
there were visible large furnaces, capable of burning at once not 
less than three hundred human beings ; and it was, I repeat, the 
occasion of a great festival among the inquisitors. The victims, 
had paper mitres on their heads, and their bodies covered with 
robes upon which flames and devils were painted. When they 
approached the fatal pile, the last words of the inquisitors to the 
executioner were, "be kind to them, and spare their blood!" 
In a few minutes more, they were ashes — and their remains 
were dispersed over the fields, or cast into the sea. 

In the face of these cruelties, the Romanists call themselves 
Christians! true worshippers of Christ! followers of the true 
Church ! the servants of the true Gospel ! You ! your Church is 
,the prison of the Inquisition ; your Gospel is the torture ; your 
- Christ is its executioner. But, many people are in the habit of 
saying, lecturers are opposed to the Roman Catholics, founding 
their objections upon the cruelties of the Spanish Inquisitions ; 
while, as they allege, the people at large are not aware that the 
Spanish Inquisition was a lay tribunal. I have already answer- 
ed, that the Spanish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal, 
supported exclusively by monks and prelates. Now, I say, if 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 249 

you think to excuse your Church, because these atrocities were 
only perpetrated in the Spanish Inquisition, you mistake. You 
say that the Inquisition in Rome was but a mere tribunal to pre- 
vent and punish crimes that were committed by the priests, and 
certain capital offences among the Italians ; and that no severe 
sentences of imprisonment or death ever passed the Inquisition 
at Romo. In Italy we have a proverb, that the career of a lie is 
short : therefore, this Roman falsehood was laid naked before 
the people at the time of our Roman republic. Keep in mind, 
my dear brethren, what I have said — that the Inquisition owed 
its very existence to the Church of Rome. He who is called in 
that Church, the Vicar of Christ, is the chief prefect, and gover- 
nor-general of the inquisitors — the inquisitor of inquisitors : and 
the Church of Rome supported the atrocities and iniquities per- 
petrated by the Inquisition. But, we liberals, we patriots, when 
we governed Rome, exposed the deeds of the Inquisition. We 
opened its chambers to the world ; we, Christians, though some- 
times called infidels and atheists, disclosed its enormities, and 
delivered the victims of these priests of Rome. Now, what did 
we find in the Inquisition ? If you read a work on my country, 
which just occurs to me, and which I recommend, not for tho 
author, but for the subject ; if you would know what Italy is, 
and Popery, you will have a good account of all these subjects 
as well as of the Inquisition. It is the work of Mr. Dwight. 
!N"ow, before I saw this work, I was myself in the Inquisition, 
and I compared this work with my own experience and know^ 
ledge, and I found that the truth had reached the Americans. 

To speak half the truth belongs to the Roman Catholic priest 
and the Roman Catholic newspapers. Now, when the doors of 
the Inquisition were opened in Rome, I was the first to enter ; 
and I was nearly in the same dress as the one I have now on, 
being the dress of first chaplain to our military crusade. People 
laughed at seeing me in the Inquisition, and said, you only of all 
the priests dare put your feet in this building ; for if any other 
should dare to come here to inspect the Inquisition, he would be 
forced to remain here for ever ; so terribly were the Roman 
11* 



250 THE INQtTlSlTION AND THE MADIAl. 

people excited at the sight of the Inquisition, so dreadful were 
its atrocities, so great had been the number of its victims. 

What did we find. The first discovery was an apartment, 
containing fine furniture and works of art — these were the apart- 
ments of the inquisitors ; so that on first entering, you would 
exclaim, oh ! it is not so horrible as people say. But, go on into 
the second court-yard, and you will find among other prisons a 
little room, in which we discovered an oven. In this prison 
were also some female dresses, some dresses of nuns, some of lit- 
tle children. Here, exclaimed some people, is a furnace, an 
oven ; and here, too, we found dresses of women and children. 
All is mystery. But, what are we to conclude ? There are the 
dresses — there had been the victims, women and babies — per- 
haps the victims of some Eomish priest there paid for listening 
to priestly seduction — that was the first step in the Koman 
Inquisition. After this, we came to a large and elegant cham- 
ber ; this chamber is called the chamber of the second father 
companion. The first father companion is the Pope's vicar-gene- 
ral, who has also a very spacious apartment. In this large 
chamber, that of the second father companion, was the confes- 
sional, where the victim was made to confess to the father com- 
panion, and afterwards the second companion received the auri- 
cular confession — having given absolution by means of the 
sacrament, he said kindly to him — Go in peace, and may God 
be with you. Go to the father inquisitor to receive your dress. 
The victim, full of hope, blesses the worthy friar, kisses his 
hand, and proceeds to the room of the first inquisitor. When 
he gets into the passage which divides the room's, he stepped 
upon a trap, and was precipitated a distance of seventy feet ; and 
it was not freedom into this life again, but freedom into ever- 
lasting life in Christ. In this abyss we found much human hair 
mixed with water, smelling of mortality ; no bones, nothing but 
hair and ashes, macerated by time and age. 

Our third discovery was more difiicult. On a small step we 
found a basket filled with bottles ; underneath, through a trap, 
we found a place called the prison of Pius V., used as caves for 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 251 

wild beasts. In one of these caves, we found some dozens of 
skeletons ; they Were all in a vertical position ; they were buried 
in lime, and were without heads, and all the skulls were piled 
up in a little mound in a corner. These were the victims of ano- 
ther kind of torture. 

The victims were put into a species of bath of fresh lime, so 
that they were slowly consumed, the lime reaching up to the 
head ; so that^ by the time the lime was dry, they had expired 
in great torture. After one year, the heads^ detached from the 
neck, were placed, not thrown, in nice symmetrical order in a 
corner'; so^ literally these people had been burned alive. Such 
was the Inquisition at Eome, and this is in the palace of the 
Pope, called the Vatican. Here the Pope walks in his gardens, 
enjoys his table, drinks his champagne as Gregory XYI. did, 
even to drunkenness. Here he enjoys himself with music and 
society ; whilst close by, many victims are, by his order, condemn- 
ed to torture and death, or to imprisonment for life, without light 
.or the common necessaries of life. In many instances, despair 
and sorrow produced death. Such was the Inquisition in Eome. 
Thank God, in the short period of the Eoman republic, we dis- 
covered these iniquities, and prevented there being any more 
victims. The very first act of the PontiflP, on his return, was to 
restore the Inquisition in Eome, to glorify Christ. Now, if the 
Inquisition is such as we know it to be, our conclusion may be, 
that if the Church of Eome, in order to preach, inculcate, and 
maintain her theories, her doctrines, her practices, needs always 
the Inquisition, she is no more the Church of Christ, which was 
preached and supported by mercy, charity, and peace, without 
violence, without persecution. But here is the Church of the 
anti-Christ, preached and supported by butchery and blood. 
Now, among other enormities perpetrated since the re-establish- 
ment of the Inquisition, is certainly the trial of the Madiai. 

Many suppose that this does not concern the Inquisition; 
but it is necessary you should know, that out of the Eoman 
States, the Inquisition is administered by laymen, that is, by the 
police, and the tyrannical Jesuits of our Italian despots. The 



252 THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIA I. 

Church of Eome obtains a revenue by persecuting the Protest- 
ants, as I could easily establish by numerous instances, especially 
a recent- one, (the Madiai) in which she was aided by the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany. 

In speaking of this trial, we have two things to consider — • 
namely, the trial itself, and then what was said about it, espe- 
cially in the letter of Archbishop Hughes. jSToav, what was the 
trial ) it was very long, but I shall be brief. It was stated in aU 
Protestant countries that the Madiai were condemned for no 
other crime than that of having in their possession the Bible, of 
having read it, and circulated it. Now, this is what I will tell 
you. Until lately, I have had nothing definite about this ; and, 
as.I never speak of anything I do not know, I refrained from 
saying anything till I got it from a pure source, very difficult to 
obtain at this great distance. This paper I hold is the Gazette 
of the Tribunal of Florence. 

I shall read extracts to show, first, what was the sentence; 
second, what was the foundation of the trial ; and, finally, con- 
sider whether they had violated the laws of Tuscany. Now, 
the sentence was pronounced on this ground. [The Father here 
recapitulated the leading facts and arguments of this celebrated 
trial, which we do not repeat here.] 

Thus, then, the sentence of the Court of Florence was given on 
the charge of impiety, which means making proselytes to the 
pure Gospel of Christ. Now, Dr. Kyle, and Mr. Lucas, in Ire- 
land, maintain that the Madiai were guilty of violating the 
Tuscan law. Not only the recent constitutional law of 184T, 
but of violating the Leopoldine law. It is quoted by the royal 
prosecutor from the sixteenth Article of the Penal Code of Tus- 
cany. [The Father then continued, and concluded his synopsis 
of the case.] 

Now, let us see whether they were guilty of a violation of this 
Tuscan law. The pubUc prosecutor, a Jesuitical bad man, main- 
tained that the Madiai had violated all laws, but especially they 
were guilty of teaching maxims opposed to " our holy religion ;" 
and in support of his argument, he cited two documents,- the 
first of which says it is necessary to have three witnesses present 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 253 

when they teach ; therefore, without there being three witnesses 
present you have no pubUcity whatever. We cannot now 
quote the trial, but from that it is certain that Rosa Madiai 
attempted to convert a young girl, and also entertained with 
another young woman discourses against the Roman Catholics. 
Therefore, Rosa never had three persons assembled together. 
She was accused of having conversed with them on religion, but 
even if she did, the crime did not exist, because there were not 
three together. It was a private conversation, not a public 
teaching ; therefore, the laws could not punish the Madiai. 

The same view maybe taken of Francis Madiai. He gave no 
public teachings at all, but spoke on religious matters with 
some friends, and that during the trial. So that this could not 
be brought in the trial as evidence against having assailed the 
religion dominant in Tuscany. 

It is true that in the house of the Madiai there sometimes met 
together, eighteen, twenty, or even thirty persons ; but it is also 
stated that they did not meet together to be converted ; they 
were already Protestants, and came to be confirmed in their Pro- 
testant principles. Therefore, Francis and Rosa Madiai, though 
they gave freely the use of their house for such a meeting, did not 
at all seek to make conversions ; they merely afforded the Pro- 
testants opportunities of meeting. Therefore, I can state from 
this platform, and I publish it in order to give the lie to the 
Roman Catholics, I say, I can state that the crime of the two 
Madiai was a charge of impiety in converting, but the trial does 
not prove that they ever attempted it, and yet the court con- 
demned them to four years of solitary confinement and hard 
labor. 

But, now, the other prosecutor came to another conclusion, 
and when the cause came to the Court of Appeals, he concluded 
with these words, that he could not agree with the first sen- 
tence, because, even if they had in their room people who had 
met with a Protestant view, they could not be punished by im- 
prisonment, because there was no publicity of their religious 
doctrines. 

Therefore, my dear brethren, where is the crime of impiety, 



254 THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAl. 

attributed to the ^ladiai ? Yv'lieii proselytism was imputed to 
tlie Madiai, where is the crime, where the proselytes ? What is 
the first observation of the reporters of the Madiai case ? 

The cause was conducted av ith closed doors, and, in Tuscany, 
under the constitutional regimen, the last light of its liberties 
was extinguished^ when this trial was conducted with closed 
doors, for when all others were discussed publicly^ this one was 
discussed with closed doors. ' 

The reporters were wrong. We think the people of Tuscany 
would dr&w light for their country from this proceeding. I 
have now proved that they sought not tt) make proselytes ; and 
I shall prove their innocence of the other charges. 

A poor nun, said to be one of their proselytes, sent a note, in 
which sae stated, under oath, that she was never converted by 
Kosa Madiai, as was said in the trial. Since this failed, the Ma- 
diai were accused of having read the Bible. That was true. 
But the ground of the sentence was, that they taught the real 
religion of Christ, trying to make converts. I now ask Mr. Lucas 
of Ireland, who said the Tuscan government justly and rightly 
condemned the Madiai for seeking to make proselytes (which, 
however, they never did), it being forbidden in Catholic coun- 
tries for Protestantism to make proselytes, why the Catholics in 
Protestant countries should be allowed to make converts ? If 
you have that right, v/e surely have it too. It is a duty of con- 
science, when a man knows the truth, to diffuse it around him. 
A man is guilty before God and society, if, knowing the truth, 
he conceals it through fear. 

Peter, who was no Jesuit, was no Pius IX., said, I obey God 
before I obey man ; therefore, if the Madiai privately, in their 
own house, with some friends, secretly spread the Word of God, 
they did their duty to God and Christ. My dear brethren, they 
were betrayed by spies in their own houses, because they pri- 
vately taught to disbelieve the Virgin Mary, purgatory, and tran- 
substantiation. Oh!' Madiai, you did your duty when you de- 
spised these doctrines, and God will bless you. It is a piece of 
stupid presumption of the Eomanists to prevent provselytism 
amongst good and true Christians. The Papists, whose nature it 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 256 

is to make proselytes, who cannot live without it, who make 
conversion in season and out of season, as Paul did ; who, in 
order to have proselytes, seek them in the houses of Protestant 
America, who entreat ladies to go to the confessional and to 
mass, who disturb families with their importunities — these same 
Papists dare to accuse us of spreading the Word of God, and of 
making proselytes ! 

Now, if from tHe trial of the Madiai we can learn anything, 
it will be a great blessing. Why were the Roman Catholics so 
severe against the Madiai in Italy ? Because it wa? the first 
case of open Protestantism that had occurred there ; so the Pa- 
pist system in Italy thought necessary to stop it at the outset, in 
order to prevent the whole of Italy from becoming Protestant. 
They were severe against the Madiai, in order to frighten the 
Italians from becoming Protestant Christians. It is a lesson for 
you, my dear brethren, which I hope will teach you to prevent, 
in the beginning, the devil from entering your country. But if, 
as in my own dear Italy, the Papists in America dare attempt to 
crush Protestantism, and if Protestants permit Protestantism to 
be strangled, to what power may we look for protection ? Now, 
mark — I have the original documents of the life and trial of the 
Madiai, and it is best for the Romanists to be silent. In this 
respect, the course of the good Archbishop John, of New York, 
is worthy of all approval. What is John of New York ? I 
don't know : I suppose he is John from Ireland. Now, John — 
John with a cross — this man said, with great apparent ho- 
nesty, that he could not condemn the Madiai because he had 
no documents, because he was not in possession of the laws 
relating to the case. I approve the honesty and prudence 
of the Archbishop, in not going on to say what Doctor Kyle 
said^-and you know what a liar this Doctor Kyle is. But 
let us examine this beautiful John of the Cross. But this is 
the best specimen of policy, to say nothing about the matter ; 
and to give utterance to his secret rage does not amount to much 
against the Madiai. This is what, in Italy, we call whipping the 
harness when you cannot whip the horse. This is now the feel- 
ing of cross John. 



256 THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 

I have now something to say about his letter. In this letter 
he sneers at American philanthropy; our philanthropy was 
really imitated from the philanthropy of England ; and so he 
laughed at the philanthropy of England and America. 

This is good, because we know that cross John, of New York, 
don't belong to any philanthropic societies. But they dared to 
call the Church of Eome a very benevolent church, very phi- 
lanthropic and very charitable, and to laugh £<f the philanthropy 
of England and America, when America desired to sympathize 
with two poor victims in their prison. It is true that the Ro- 
man Catholic church is a very philanthropic one ; but her phi- 
lanthropies are penances imposed lipon young girls — are 
auricular confessions — are fastings, abstinences, and macera- 
tions. Her philanthropy in the other world is purgatory, in 
this world, the Inquisition ; and, therefore, John of New York 
may laugh at the philanthropy of American Protestants, because 
it is really different from the philanthropy of the Inquisition of 
the Pope. 

Now this man said something about the aristocracy of Ame- 
rica trying to import into America a sympathy for the Madiai, 
from the aristocracy of England. Don't speak about aristocracy, 
my dear John, because I know the Roman Catholic feeling in 
Italy, and the Jesuit feeling, at the head of which you stand, in 
New York. The Jesuits flatter the aristocracy in Europe, but 
here John flatters the democracy, for here democracy is the 
leading power — so that they arrange matters according to cir- 
cumstances. Yes, my dear brethren, when you, Americans, im- 
port the English sympathy for the Madiai, you have surely a 
greater right to do so than when John imports the ladies of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Sisters of 
Charity. The chief rage of this holy mitred man is against the 
meeting in Metropolitan Hall. 

This man blamed the meeting in Metropolitan Hall, and ac- 
cording to the Jesuitical feeling he tried to cast ignominy upon 
some of your leading American people who signed the call of 
this meeting. Remember that you are a Roman Catholic priest, oh, 
John ! a very charitable Roman Catholic bishop. Whenever he 



THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 257 

speaks against Protestants suspect his words, because he does not 
speak the truth, but merely tries to bring discredit upon the 
Protestant cause. 

Now let me give you a little advice, dear Archbishop John. 
Why do you sneer at the meeting at Metropolitan Hall to sympa- 
thize with the Madiai ? The Eoman Catholics of America are, not 
to be made responsible for the treatment of the Madiai in Italy. 
You said that the call of this meeting was a bad thing ; that it 
was calculated to excite Protestants against Eoman Catholics ; 
to revive the Protestant crusade against Eomanists. 

The American Catholics may have had nothing to do with the 
trial of the Madiai ; but, surely, the American Christians may 
sympathize with them for all that, without making the Eoman 
Catholics in America accomplices of the Eoman Catholics in 
Italy. But, my dear John of the cross, when you accuse Pro- 
testants of meeting together to sympathize with the Madiai, 
you should be more logical, my dear John. 

If you find fault with this meeting, you can never allow any 
meeting for Eoman Catholic afi'airs or sympathies. 

But, my dear John, a few weeks after this circumstance, you, 
who are everywhere, and everywhere announced as preaching 
everywhere, you call a meeting of sympathy for the Archbishop 
of Bogota. This is the consistency of John Cross of New York ; 
my dear brethren, for the express purpose of sympathizing with 
the Archbishop, for the purpose of presenting a gift to the 
Archbishop, for the purpose of sympathizing with the Catholics 
of New Grenada. And now, mark you, when the American 
Protestants sympathized with the poor Madiai, they sympathized 
with two poor victims of the Church of Eome. But when the 
Eoman Catholic church sympathized with the Archbishop of 
Bogota, they sympathized with the arch agitator of New Gre- 
nada, whose government has the right to take away from the 
Church of Eome the nomination of the parish priests ; a right 
which, from the earliest times of Christianity, belonged to the 
people. 

Now, my dear brethren, New Grenada has had to pay for 
her stupidity and bigotry in remaining exclusively a Eoman Ca- 



258 THE INQUISITION AND THE MADIAI. 

tholic country. New Grenada now knows that the Popish 
system and a republican government are antagonists, and that a 
president of a republic and a nuncio of the Pope cannot agree. 

All Central America is in the same condition. How misera- 
ble is now the condition of Eoman Catholic Mexico, with her 
nuncio and concordat ? How miserable the condition of l^ew 
Grenada ! and how miserable also will be the condition of the 
United States, if they do not guard against a similar result ! 

Finally, John of York reproaches the American Protestants 
for not importing also from England the system of ragged schools. 
Now, the only people here who need ragged schools are the Irish 
— not because they are Irish, but because they are Roman Ca- 
tholics — for even in their native home the ragged boys do not 
belong to the Protestants, but to the Roman Catholics. 

The Protestants in England have done well in educating the 
ragged boys. Not only does she pay for the education of Irish 
boys, but she also pays for the education of Irish men, at the 
college of Maynooth, to which she gives thirty thousand pounds 
annually, and this in order to educate and support the Roman 
Catholic priests ; and yet these very same priests keep the Irish 
people in slavish ignorance. Therefore, I say it would be useless 
to have the ragged school in America for natives, but it would 
be good for Roman Catholic Irishmen. 

At last the Archbishop dares to say, that the Bible is not for- 
bidden among Roman Catholics, and that the Madiai Avere not 
condemned for having read it ; notwithstanding that the first 
prosecutor, on the trial, charged as one of their crimes this 
actual fact of the reading of the Bible. But, John of New 
York dares to say that in Italy, before the translation of the 
Bible by Luther, there did actually exist a pure and correct 
translation, and that Pius VI. approved of it. Oh ! Jesuit priest ! 
Before the translation of Martin Luther we had really a Bible, 
but the Council of Trent forbade the reading of this translation, 
though they approved of the translation itself. Of what use, 
therefore, was it ? Pius, as a scholar, eulogized this translation, 
but, as Pope, he forbade its being read withont Papal notes and 
fsommentaries, or without the Latin text in the margin; and 



THE INQUISITION . AND THE MADIAI. 259 

Pius VII., in one of his bulls, forbade the translation of Martini, 
the Archbishop of Florence. Thus is it that the Papists speak 
only half the truth, in order to deceive the American Catholics. 

Now, God only is just and infallible; and, therefore, I hope 
in the Word of God, in the Word of Christ, that all the rage of 
this man is to redound to the manifestation of the truth con- 
cerning the Scriptures. You, John, try to make the Protestants 
believe that the Bible is read among Catholics ; it is not true ; the 
Komanists are prevented from reading the Word of God ; and, 
therefore, do not mistake the mission of the Papists in your 
country. 

Protestants, the mission of this man, and of aU missions in 
your country, is to prevent Protestants from reading the Word 
of God! 

Take heed of your Bible, watch it well ; remember that Ame- 
rica will lost when she loses her Bible. 



260 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERY 



LECTURE X. 

THE PRESENT WAR OP POPERY AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 

My subject this evening is, the present War of Popery against 
Protestantism. I begin by the War against Protestantism, made 
directly by men of the Roman Catholic faith. In the latter part 
of the lecture, I shall prove this by means of Protestant allies. 
That Popery is always at war against Protestantism, is a general 
proposition which doesn't require any proof. History is at hand 
to prove this proposition ; and, -therefore, I proceed to speak of 
the present war against Protestantism, because it should be 
always present to the minds of Protestants, that Popery never 
changes ; and while she remains Popery, this war must conti- 
nue. Because to-day in Rome it is a simple proposition, that 
either Popery must come down, or the Gospel cannot triumph. 
But, if a Pope, as Pope, must live by means of Popery, then 
Popes must continue the war againsL the Gospel professed by 
Protestants ; so that this war will always be going on while 
Popery exists. In the present day, I shall prove my proposition 
by the eagerness of the Roman Catholic Church to convert, as 
if they were blind heretics, the perfect Protestants of England 
and America. In Rome, we have a festival annually, for the 
purpose of praying to God for the conversion to Popery of all 
mankind. In Florence and Lucca, and many other places in 
Italy, the Virgin Mary is implored to convert heretics through- 
out the world, especially in England and America. In France, 
among those very Christian people of France — the holy country- 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 261 

men of tlie holy Yoltaire, and the holy Diderot — there was insti- 
tuted some years ago, a congregation entitled the Sacred Heart of 
the Immaculate Virgin Mary, for the conversion of all Protest- 
ants, especially in England, and those also in yom* very perfect and 
heretical country. So that all Papists, you see, are employed 
and founded for your conversion. You are the children of .the 
devil, and it is now the care of the Eoman Catholic Church to 
try to save you from hell and the devil. 

You ought, then, to be very grateful to the Pope and Popery. 

Now, Protestants are sometimes very hard to convert ; the 
Protestant faith, is a rugged faith ; and, therefore, it is neces- 
sary in order to facilitate the conversion of Protestants, to have 
a few miracles at hand ; for, according to St. Paul, miracles are 
for unbelievers. Therefore, not only in the present cen- 
tury, but in this present year, and in the last year, we have had 
miracles performed in Italy for the conversion of Protestants. 
It is said, in the papers at Naples, that God, in order to con- 
found the obstinacy of heretics, had thought fit to perform mira- 
cles in two towns of Italy — namely, Barri and Andrea. You 
will remember, in my lecture on relics, what I said about the 
thorns in the crown of Christ. Now, in order to confirm my 
assertion, that they are but common thorns, I read in a late 
European newspaper, that two thorns of the crown of Christ, 
encountered in a species of duel, fighting with each other, as to 
who should perform the best miracle before the Neapolitans. 

But what was the object of the miracle, you will ask ? Why, 
for your benefit, Americans; for the blind Protestants; for 
stony-hearted heretics. 

In Barri is worshipped a thorn of the crown of Christ, on Good 
Friday. One 25th of March (this thorn of Barri for centuries 
had dropped blood) — this year Good Friday fell on the 25th of 
March — the people, bishops, magistrates, captains of police, offi- 
cers of the army, in short, the whole population were assembled 
before the thorn of Christ, and, mirahile didtu ! in the presence 
of all, the thorn of Christ distilled some dozen drops of clear and 
fresh blood, supposed to be the blood of our Divine Saviour ; and 
all the assembled people responded by tears, touched by such a 



262 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERY 

miracle. But the nearest town, called Andrea, had a thorn of 
the crown of Christ, as well as the town of Barri ; and, in pre- 
sence of the bishops and the whole town, including the wise 
governor, this second thorn distilled likewise some drops of 
our Divine Saviour's blood, of course. So that in Italy you see 
the rivalry between the thorns of the crown of Christ. One 
thorn cannot perform a miracle without exciting a miracle in a 
neighboring thorn, so that people distill all the blood of Christ 
through these thorns. 

In all this is to be seen the hand of God. There is his hand 
ever ready to confound atheism and infidelity ; and, in order to 
confound the Protestant heretics, and convince the world that 
the Church of Christ is the Popish Church. 

Do you know what all this means ? Is it not an extraordinary 
thing to have a thorn distilling fresh blood. Now, I desire to 
ask the Neapolitans who believe in this miracle, and I desire to 
ask all Eoman Catholics to whom can this blood belong. Is it 
the identical blood of Christ ; if so, what Christ ? The Christ 
of the Christians, or the Christ of the Papists; a Christ in 
heaven, or a Christ on earth. As I proved in another lecture, 
about the milk of the Virgin Mary, Christ in heaven cannot shed 
blood at all, because he cannot from his glorified body lose any- 
thing. His blood could only be drawn from a wound, and a 
wound cannot be given without suffering. Now, the glorified 
Christ cannot suffer ; therefore, cannot be wounded'. 

The. glorified body of Christ cannot shed blood ; therefore, this 
cannot be the blood of Christ. 

Nor is it the original blood which flowed from Christ in the pre- 
torium of Pilate. And then, again, werie these thorns really and 
certainly those of the crown of Christ ? Did these thorns touch 
the flesh of Christ ? "Were they imbued with his blood ? 

After the resurrection of Christ, when he took away his body, 
did any part of the blood of Christ remain in these thorns? 

If you suppose these thorns to have been imbued with one 
drop of the real blood of Christ, can they now distill, every ten 
years, dozens and dozens of drops of this same blood of Christ? 
Is this, then, the blood of Christ? No. What is it then? 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 263 

Well, it is one of the usual impostures of the Church of 
Rome! 

My dear brethi^en, the true thorn in the eyes of the Roman 
Catholic Church, is the Protestant faith ; and, in order to take 
it out of her sight, the Popish Church produces the thorns from 
the crown of Christ. 

Now, we have many fine artists in Italy, men skilled in the 
very minutest handicrafts ; and, with their assistance, it is so 
easy to make a thorn, and to give it miraculous powers? Have 
you never seen wizards or magicians, who perform most won- 
derful acts by means of machinery and manual dexterity. So 
these thorns are filled with fictitious blood ; and thus the people, 
who believe implicitly in their priests, believe that these thorns 
were actually the thorns of the crown of Christ ; though, in 
reality, they have been prepared but a few days before by a skil- 
ful workman, and filled with chemical blood, and made to work 
a chemical miracle. So it is that in Andrea now fiows the blood 
of Christ to the confusion of heretics, and to confirm the Catho- 
lics in their devotion and adhesion to the Popish Church. 

My dear brethren, if you remain obstinate after such astound- 
ing miracles, it is a sign that the hand of God no longer protects 
you. Be comforted by the Roman Catholics, be converted to 
their art and faith, and to Pope and Popery, in view of such a 
miraculous miracle performed by the thorns and blood of Christ ! 
No, my dear brethren, thi-s is an illustration of the moral and 
spiritual war of the Roman Catholic Church for the conversion 
of Protestants ; and it is now general. 

The war against Protestantism is very clear in Europe ; the 
doctrines of Protestantism and the ministrations of Protestantism 
are everywhere persecuted — in Austria, and expelled from Hun- 
gary — they were persecuted and expelled from France. Many 
thousand Protestants were expelled from the French schools, to 
please the new Jesuitical French Government; and now, under 
the present government, many, especially the preachers, are 
expelled. Now, the war is commencing in Prussia, the best 
Protestant government on the continent, but in which the Jesu< 
its now begin to predominate. 



264 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERY 

The first work of the Jesuits in Prussia, was to disturb the 
Protestants in their faith. I gave you an example of this war in 
Italy, in what I said about the Madiai. I will only add to this 
another little detail. "We have in Florence a young man of the 

name of , who is probably condemned to two or three 

years' imprisonment without any trial, and only for having in 
his possession the Bible, and for having read it habitually. So 
the struggle againt Protestantism, and the opposition to its being 
introduced, are very great. 

Kow, do you know anything about the war in America against 
Protestantism ? It is not very difficult for Protestants to meet 
it. And yet I see that the Roman Catholic hierarchy exercises 
a very great influence over the minds of a great many Protest- 
ants. The war waged by the Roman Catholic clergy in America 
consists chiefly of two or three capital points. The first point is 
to overwhelm all enemies with ignominy. I have before 
observed, that when a Protestant is converted to Romanism, the 
Protestants notice this conversion once or twice in the papers ; 
it is talked of for a day or two, and then the subject is dropped, 
and never more spoken of. 

Some time ago, when the American Bishop Ives became 
a Romanist, the onl}^ thing sard was, that he was a foolish little 
fellow, and nothing more. 

The Protestants have no need to attack the private character 
of those Protestants who have become Romanists; but such is 
not the case with Catholics. If a Catholic becomes a Protestant, 
the Catholics persecute him, and the jjersecution never ceases 
while this man lives ; and it is not only a persecution against his 
new doctrines and pi'eachings, but also against his private cha- 
racter ; and from anonymous attacks we are led to evil conjec- 
tures about this man — a man whose character is lost ;' and by 
insinuations they contrive to cover with ignominy their victims. 

Is not this a persecution ? because in this way they annihilate 
Slid destroy this man who speaks practically against the system 
which they abandoned. Another of the points by which they 
wage war against Protestantism, is to denounce all free di.^cus- 
eion. Mark, my dear brethren, when a priest ppcaks against 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 265 

Protestants, the Romanists say, lie is right, and is making use of 
his rights ; but when a Protestant speaks against a Papist. Oh ! 
oh ! Then you hear everywhere the exclamation, " this is a 
Protestant crusade against Papists. Oh ! don't do that, you will 
excite citizen against citizen. Oh ! oh ! this is a war carried on 
by the Americans against their Catholic brethren!"* 

Alas ! alas ! do you know the Jesuitical manner in which they 
wage war with sneers, saying it is necessary to put him down ? 
Oh, this man, let us crush him before he speaks ; oh, really the 
appearance of this man will be a dreadful event ; oh, go, go 
from America, and leave us to our slumbers ! 

"When John of New York spoke of the decline of Protestant- 
ism, oh, he, of course, was right. It is all proper for John to 
speak of the decline of Protestantism ; but what is the cause of 
the decline of Protestantism ? It is owing to the war waged by 
Popery. Protestantism cannot decline without Popery being 
the cause ; therefore you have cross John, who speaks against 
the decline of Protestantism, and you have many ministers and 
many laymen among Protestants, who speak of the increase of 
Popery. 

Was John right when he spoke of the decline of Protestant- 
ism ? and are the Protestant ministers right when they speak 
about the spreading of Popery ? Oh no, certainly ; and there- 
fore it is necessary to stop their mouths while we can. The last 
capital point of the Papists, by which to wage war against Pro- 
testants, is to insult and defy public opinion. 

My dear brethren, there is a proverb which says, that if you 
are timid you will be trodden down — if you are fearless you will 
stand in safety and security. 

Such are the maxims of the Popish clergy. They brave the 
Protestant opinion — they curse its practices; but they them- 
selves put into practice what they before cursed. 

Allow me to repeat, with some addition, what I said about 
the Archbishop of Bogota ; for this morning I read the account 
of the second meeting assembled to present to this reverend 

* The Father was supposed to allude here to an article in the " Tribune," against 
Father Achilli. 

12 



266 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERY 

gentleman an elegant and costly ring. Oh ! oh ! we are in a 
free land — in America. But I ask, what right has Archbishop 
Hughes to calumniate the Protestants, and to cover them with 
ignominy for their meeting in Metropolitan Hall in behalf of the 
Madiai, when he, in this same Metropolitan Hall, had a meeting 
for the Archbishop of Bogota ? 

iJiTow let us sympathize with this victim of the government of 
JS'ew Grenada, as the Protestants sympathized with the poor of 
the government of Tuscany. 

Is it the same thing? No ! The Archbishop said a blow was 
given to the Tuscan government in the meeting in Metropolitan 
Hall. If so, a blow was also given to the New Grenadian go- 
vernment by the Catholic meeting in Metropolitan Hall. More- 
over, and finally, the meeting in favor of the Madiai was called 
in favor of two innocent and powerless victims, who, as is 
allowed even in the prosecution, never disturbed the peace of 
Tuscany. 

But the Archbishop of Bogota really tried to disturb the 
peace and concord of New Grenada, to excite its subjects against 
the government. 

An Archbishop tried in Italy to excite the Piedmontese against 
the government ; therefore, if you wiR honor such a man, and 
if you will be guaranteed such a right yourself, allow every one 
else the same freedom ; let all pay honor to those to whom they 
think honor is due, and don't find fault with the Madiai meeting 
in Metropolitan Hall, when you follow it with just such a meet- 
ing for the Archbishop of Bogota ! 

This, however, is just the plan the Roman Catholic clergy take 
in America, and everywhere, to obtain and to maintain their 
domination. 

The Roman Catholic church has many other means of waging 
war with efifect. One of these is their nunneries, which aro 
transplanted from Europe to America. 

The Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity, belonging to 
the Society of Jesus, have a secret mission to overthrow Protes- 
tantism everywhere, as rapidly and as effectually as they can. 
"Bnt the captains of that army — and a charming army it is, too 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 267 

— are the ladies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Oh, the ladies 
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ! I respect the ladies. I would 
lie down in the dust for the ladies — but not for the ladies of the 
S.acred Heart of Jesus — because I know from the gospel that His 
heart had no ladies at all. I don't recognise the ladies of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus ; but in them I recognise the best soldiers 
of Papacy in the world against Protestantism in America. 

"Wliy do the Americans like the ladies of the Sacred Heart so 
much ? "Why, they are ladies of high rank ; they are princesses, 
marchionesses, countesses, baronesses, and so on. You, republi- 
cans, you like princesses, marchionesses, etc. ? Oh no, no ! This 
is a very new kind of republicanism to me ; especially to-day, 
when you call yourselves a democratic republic. This is a little 
inconsistent, but it is of no moment. 

What good do the ladies of the Sacred Heart accomplish in 
America? First rate education. Don't answer me first rate 
education, but answer me first rate Protestant education. Can 
you answer me that the ladies of the Sacred Heart impart sound 
Protestant education ? Ko ! 

But they teach the French language very weU. That is a 
capital thing ; but are you bound to teach your daughters a 
foreign language, or the language of the gospel ? This is what 
you ought to think of, Protestant fathers and mothers. 

When they have learned the French language in this school, 
they will read very badly the Protestant prayer-book. 

But amongst these young girls every kind of religious discus- 
sion is forbidden ; therefore there can be no danger for Protes- 
tant girls. Oh, you are mistaken! You believe, blindly and 
kindly, that in the Sacred Heart of Jesus there are no religious 
discussions allowed. You will permit me to say that that is 
overdoing the usual simplicity of the Yankee. No ! no ! But 
they really cannot discuss, and do not discuss. 

Do you know why ? Because Jesuits and ladies of the Sacred 
Heart fear the consequences of such discussion ; because a little 
Protestant girl, Bible in hand, can confound not only all her 
companions, but also, in many instances, her teachers; afld 
therefore it is, that discussion is forbidden, for fear that the Ro- 



268 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERV 

man Catholic girls in discussion with Prostestant girls become 
themselves Protestants ; and, therefore, this is why discussion is 
forbidden, because for them it would operate the wrong way 
altogether, so you that patronize these people see that you have 
your daughters always in the hands of the devil — very charming 
devils — but still they are the hands of the devil ! 

When a daughter of the Philistines tempted the Israelites to 
sacrifice to Baal they were vanquished, after they had made unto 
themselves an image. 

In the convent of the Sacred Heart are used all sorts of fasci- 
nations. The vanity of the young girls is tampered with ; they 
flatter their young Protestant pupils ; they are always preferred in 
everything ; they are pardoned for their faults, in order to gain 
their hearts. In many instances in Paris, English'Protestant girls 
become Romanist through the seductive manners of their indi- 
vidual teachers ; therefore your daughters are in danger of 
falling from their faith, when among the ladies of the Sacred 
Heart. 

Do you believe that Eomanists, especially monks, and particu- 
larly nuns, among the Jesuits, can educate Protestants for Pro- 
testantism ? Oh, blind Protestants ! the parallel argument exists 
in Switzerland. In the Jesuitical college of Fribourg, Roman 
Catholics and Protestants were educated together, but only to 
make proselytes among Protestants, and to convert pupils to the 
Roman Catholic faith. This is the case in your country also ; 
and though I do not wish to throw discredit on the Sacred 
Heart, yet I think you will find that many of your daughters, 
brought up in the conduct of the Sacred Hearts, will become 
Catholics. 

When they leave the college they swear to be silent on their 
conversion, and to keep on with the Protestants until the day 
comes when they can publicly avow their faith. And this is no 
new practice — to be outwardly a Protestant, whilst inwardly a 
Catholic ! 

I am insisting on this point, because no later than this morn- 
ing I read in a very good Protestant newspaper, viz., the Express^ 
that the " Freem-o^'s Journal"' states that all your public schools 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 269 

are either Protestant or infidel. Now, what do you say about 
their schools ? They are schools of monks and Jesuits, but are 
they Protestant schools likewise? No! they are Papist, to 
educate people in Popish practices ! Kemember, if the Jesuits 
succeed in subverting some of the best families in America, they 
will, in a few years, become dominant in America ; therefore it 
is that I insist on my point for this, the great beginning of the 
terrible war against Protestantism. 

Society, to a great extent, is influenced by the higher class, 
therefore do the Jesuits strive to get into these higher classes, 
and do now speak to some somnolent and indifferent Americans, 
who will say, we desire only a good education, dancing, music, 
singing, and French — these are all we seek. Yes, is this all? 
Oh, what sort of honor and reputation will your daughters bring 
to your families with dancing and song ? No very enviable one. 
But with the true knowledge of Christianity and sound learning, 
they will cover you with honor. 

I won't stop to say much to some great politicians, who send 
their daughters to Eoman Catholic schools, in order to obtain 
the approbation of Bishop Hughes ; it is to secure also the votes 
of Bishop Hughes and his party. But I must say a few words 
to some Eoman Catholic parents, who are quite blind on this 
point, being ignorant of the dangers which surround their 
daughters in the establishments of the Sacred Heart. 

Take away your girls from the Sacred Heart, for they will re- 
turn to your homes speaking the French language, perhaps, but 
they will know nothing consistent with a good Protestant edu- 
cation ; and if you wish them to have a good French education, 
you are sufficiently cosmopolite in your cities to obtain foreign 
instruction. You have all kinds of speculation, why do you not 
make a speculation for a good education? Why have you not 
in your country some French ladies from Paris or Savoy, as we 
have in Italy ? They can impart a first rate education, but with- 
out the danger of imparting Catholicism also. 

Now the ladies of the Sacred Heart are dreadfully exciting 
for the Protestant American ladies, because they are so refined 
and this over-refinement overawes the simple American people. 



2*70 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERY 

The ladies of the Sacred Heart are supported and seconded by 
the Jesuits and the Father Confessors ; and, moreover, the edu- 
cation they impart is bad, because inspired from Jesuitical 
sources. Now, I will not repeat what I said in another lecture, 
that since Jesuits are not transubstantiated into Americans when 
they land on your shores, they will ruin America at last, as they 
ruined the continent of Europe and Central America. I bid you 
therefore beware. The Jesuits are sometimes secret and some- 
times open in their proceedings. I speak especially of their 
hatred against your National and Republican Schools. 

My dear brethren, -when I witnessed in Ireland the indigna- 
tion of the Jesuits against the Queen's colleges, I was not as- 
tonished to find the Jesuits so madly opposed to your National 
Schools. 

I received this morning an article from the Tablet (a counter- 
part of the same paper in Ireland) ; it is the best specimen of 
intolerance in this country, as the Tablet in Dublin is there. 

In this Tablet there is a very long article in opposition to the 
National Schools. They are all put under a ban by the hier- 
archy of the United States, because they do not agree with the 
teachings of St. Peter, wlio spoke clearly against the National 
Schools — so they say! — so that St. Peter, who strove to en- 
lighten all mankind, is quoted as the advocate of ignorance 
among the people! Eead this article, and you will find the 
opinions of the Papists concerning the National Schools set 
forth, for once, openly to the public. In this one instance they 
wage war openly. They say they are schools of the devil, and 
therefore, they say that it is better for children to be mere 
hewers of wood and drawers of water, than to learn reading, 
writing, and arithmetic in these schools of the devil. They 
desire America to have a population of ignorant, blind people, 
because such people wiU allow themselves to be enslaved by the 
Church of Rome. It was while carrying on this war openly 
about the schools in Cincinnati, that the Jesuits met with such a 
failure there and in Baltimore. In New York they will also 
fail, on the same point, if they attempt to war here ; and, in 
order to get up some preliminary indignation, they write articles 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 271 

like this I allude to. They maintain that they have as good a 
right to desire all to remove theu* children from tlie National 
Schools, in the same manner that you think it right to preach 
the removing of your daughters from the Sacred Heart. 

My dear brethren, the two cases are quite different. Their 
convents are surrounded by darkness and mystery, but in your 
National Schools the wisdom of American legislators has de- 
voted the greatest attention and care to avoid offending in any- 
thing, especially the conscience of the Roman Catholics ; it is, 
therefore, an insult when they say it is better to remain in igno- 
rance than to send their children to your National Schools. So 
much for the Jesuits of this country and their policy, tending to 
destroy your freedom. 

But crafty and untiring as they are, I do not so much fear the 
Jesuits from Europe as I fear the American Jesuits. I do not 
fear the Roman Catholic Jesuits as I fear the Protestant Jesuits. 
I do not fear so much the Jesuits of Rome as I do the Jesuits of 
Oxford in England. I do not fear so much the followers of Ig- 
natius as I do the followers of Dr. Pusey ! 

Who is Dr. Pusey, ask some, and what is Puseyism ? It is the 
Church of Rome with a Protestant mask, and Dr. Pusey is a very 
learned man, one of the highest professors of the University of 
Oxford. Outside he has the Oxonian toga — all right outside! 
"Wonderful ! Inside, ugh ! If Dr. Pusey will throw open his 
Oxonian toga you will see hissing snakes, prepared to spread 
their venom over all the Protestant world ! Oh ! to all appear- 
ances he is Protestant — in intolerance he is Romanist. The 
chapel of Dr. Pusey professes to be a Protestant chapel, but it 
has a Popish altar ; a Protestant pulpit with Papist sermons ; a 
Protestant Bible with Papist maxims ; it has Papist candlesticks, 
Papist incense. Papist genuflexions. Papist holy water — all, all 
Popish — excepting in name, honor, position in society, and 
money ! 

Shame, shame on a man, shame on a congregation, which thinks 
one thing and practises another ! Come before me as Romanists 
and I wiU respect your Popish faith ; but come in appearance 
Protestant but in heart Romanist, no, no ! it is a diabolical way. 



2V2 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERY 

All one thing or all the other, and no half-and-half. Such a re- 
ligion is no religion at alL I am severe and precise upon this 
point, because I know Puseyism in a Protestant country is the 
noviciate for the Church of Kome, my dear brethren. To apos- 
tatize Protestantism openly, is found to be too difficult a task ; 
therefore the Jesuits operate secretly, by means of Puseyism, in 
order to prepare the way for the full and final adoption of Ca- 
tholicism ; and as my mission, under the blessing of God, is to 
destroy Pope and Popery in my dear country, and, if possible, 
everywhere, so my mission in England and in all other Protes- 
tant countries is to destroy that which looks to me so very like 
Pope and Popery ; my mission, therefore, is to nip it in the bud, 
to preach independently, as an independent man, against Pusey- 
ism, for it is the first step towards the Popish Church. In this 
struggle it is necessary to avoid the very beginnings, Kemem- 
ber that the devil has always been very cunning. It is a very 
ungallant proposition, but true, and real Protestants wiU aUow 
it to be true — the devil and women are leagued together in this 
new presentation of Protestantism ! When the devil tempted 
Eve, he did not dare to tempt our great mother except in a very 
covert manner ; he did not dare to appear as the devil, with two 
horns, a long tail, claws, and cloven feet. Oh, no ! he came in 
the shape of a beautiful serpent, and Eve was fascinated . by its 
appearance, so she ate the apple ; and poor Adam was tempted 
in his turn, and in this way sin entered the world. This is the 
policy now in the Roman Catholic chm-ch, with regard to the 
Protestants. The Roman Catholic church personifies the devil, 
and is now transubstantiated into Puseyism. He don't appear in 
his Roman Catholic character ; no, he conceals Mmself under a 
specious appearance — white dresses, genuflexions, fine ceremo- 
nies, flowers, perfumes, incense, music, and silver and gold plate. 
All people like this grand display, it is better than the black 
dresses of the Protestants, and so they go to the Puseyite con- 
gregation ; and husbands and fathers, in order to please their 
wives and daughters, go to the Puseyite chapel — especially, all 
the higher class go there. This is the way to introduce Popery 
among Protestants. 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 273 

The tempting devil is Dr. Pusey, and women support Dr. 
Fusey. But Puseyism is really an exotic, though a flower ; this 
flower is one of a great family, botanically speaking. This fa- 
mily is called Tractarianism, therefore Tractarianism is the father 
of Puseyism ; Puseyism is the brother of Jesuitism, and Jesuit- 
ism is the serpent. 

Puseyitesses are the serpentesses, and between the serpents 
and serpentesses they produce a species of mongrel Protes- 
tantism. 

My dear brethren, tractarianism was a good thing when it was 
kept between bounds and limits, but when it came to be with- 
out limits it became as bad as Popery and Papacy. I speak now 
from experience, and I know that the best supporters in Eng- 
land of Popery and of Pius IX. were not exclusively Wiseman, 
Newman, Kyle, Wilberforce, Lucas, and so on. Ko ; one of the 
best supporters of Pius IX., one of the greatest allies of Popery, 
especially in the time of the Papal aggression in England, was 
the Protestant Bishop of Exeter, because he was a tractariau 
bishop ; therefore. Popes and Popery are fond of tractarians ; 
therefore I speak loudly against tractarianism in England and in 
America — if, indeed, any has entered into America — because it 
is more to be dreaded than Puseyism, as an ally of the Roman 
Catholic church. 

Under this title of tractarianism you find many dogmas, some- 
times a little Eomanism, sometimes a little Puseyism, mixed 
with a little Protestantism. Every day, in fact, some fresh 
phase is discovered, together with various accounts of this bishop 
or that layman becoming Roman Catholics, etc. My astonishment 
would be, that all Puseyites are not Roman Catholics at once, 
did I not know that it is their policy to wait a few years, in 
order to come out with more eclat. Therefore, beware of tracta- 
rianism ; and if you find people saying we are rooted in our 
faith, with our prayer-books and sermons, oh, watch narrowly 
that you do nothing beyond to impair this confident faith. 

I was living in London between two tractarian fires — namely, 
between the Protestant clergyman of Portland street, and a 
Puseyite chapel ; the former, in a few months, tried to. induce 
12* 



274 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERT 

his curates to become Eoman Catholic priests, and in a few 
months you could scarcely call this a Protestant parish or a Pro- 
testant priest. He was a tractarian. But I may he answered, 
if he tried to make his curates Catholics, though nominally a 
tractarian, he was in fact a Roman Catholic. 

The parish priest of the Puseyite chapel introduced all kinds 
of Popish worship, and when reproved by the Church, he said, 
the Roman Catholics used such beautiful things, why should the 
Protestants deprive themselves of such attractions to entice 
people to chm-ch ? My answer is, they need them because the 
Catholic is a Pagan church — the Protestants need them not, be- 
cause it is a Christian church. 

I will now suggest something to the Protestants of America. 
Remember that St. Paul said, a little leaven can corrupt the 
whole mass ; therefore, if what these people say is true, that 
they are accommodating their ceremonies and litanies to Roman- 
ism, I ask you, Protestants, I implore you, to watch and exa- 
mine your prayer-books, and if you find in them anything in 
name or in practice similar to the Church of Rome, take it away 
and correct your prayer-books ; because this is the little leaven 
which will corrupt the whole Protestant faith. As I am 
acquainted with the Roman Catholic liturgy and nomenclature, 
if you have a period of the year called Lent, if you have visiting 
days, the offices of the apostles, the names of saints, St. Dunstan, 
St. Patrick, St. Denis, and so on ; if you have Candlemas Day, 
Michaelmas Day, if you have some of the Roman ceremonies, such 
as confirmation, fasting, &c. ; I say, Protestants, it is better to 
change these names and to correct this prayer-book, and thus 
maintain the Protestant religion in its original purity of faith. 
It is better to do this than to incur the danger and peril of losing 
the Protestant faith, by introducing among the Protestants litur- 
gies and practices adopted only by the Romaniste. No, no! 
Remember this great and glorious maxim — the Protestant faith, 
without liturgies or ceremonies. Nothing of that kind. The 
Protestant faith is the Gospel of Christ, and the faith of Christ. 

Purify its faith, without introducing, as in England, Roman 
practices and ceremonies, and saying that they are according to 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 275 

the Protestant prayer-books, and its liturgies according to the 
Diocese of Exeter. 

Christ said, in the Gospel, we have not received a spirit of 
slavery but a spirit of freedom ; and, therefore, Baptists, Friends' 
society, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, all may say 
abba. Father ; but Puseyites and Tractarians cannot justly say so, 
because they are followers of the Exeter Bishop, and not, either 
in spirit or truth, Protestants. 

Now, if these people are secret allies of Rome in the war 
against Protestantism, in this last portion of my lecture, I will 
say something about some other Protestants who aid in the war 
against the Protestant community at large. I discovered imme- 
diately on my arrival here, that the greatest aids to the Roman 
Catholics among the Protestants were the politicians and the 
press, some of them, I mean ; but remember what I said in my 
first course of lectures about your National Schools. Some 
morbid Protestants, in order to please the Romanists, and in 
order not to exclude the Roman Catholic children, forbid the 
reading of the Bible in the schools. Protestants, what are yoti 
without the Bible ? Nothing more nor less than Papists, because 
they are without the Bible. If, then, you exclude the Bible, you 
will convert your National Schools into Roman Catholic Papist 
Schools. No ! no ! Prove to me that the Bible is a bad, an 
indecent book, that it corrupts the heart and mind of youth, and 
I will coincide with you that it should be excluded from the 
National Schools ; knowing, however, as I do, that the Bible 
alone can produce a free people, oh ! do not exclude the Bible 
from your National Schools ! 

Remember, that even should the Romanists say, if you have 
the Bible read in your schools, we cannot send them there, it 
is you, then, who wage openly and fearlessly the war with 
Archbishop Hughes, and the Jesuits, and all the Popish leaders. 
Then they will change their policy, and try to prove the corrup- 
tion of the Protestant Bible. Then, you will meet together to 
correct the translation according to the best original text ; and 
then you can say to the Papists — you cannot now exclude the 
Bible if you are a Christian people ; and in this way you will 



276 THE PRESENT WAR OF POPERT 

tramijle over all difficulties. People say that when we preach 
so loudly against Roman Catholic pretensions in this country, 
we are engaging in a crusade against the Roman Catholics. 
No 1 no ! Hear me ; if twenty or thirty years ago some people, 
and among them myself, for instance, had come into America, 
preaching against the Roman Catholic system as I am preaching 
to-day, it would then have been imputed to me as a crime, 
because then the Papists in your country were quiet, were only 
native Americans ; and, therefore, it would have been a crime 
to excite war between native Americans and native Americans. 
But, now, after so many hundred Jesuits have come to America 
from Europe; now, after so many hundred thousand Roman 
Catholics have emigrated to this country, to be silent on the 
Popish system is no longer a duty, indeed, it is a crime. 

The number of the Jesuits should have been put down in your 
last census, where you have numbered all your people. Between 
the years 1830 and 1843, you have an increase of nearly four 
hundred priests ; and during the last ten years you have an 
increase of not less than eight hundred priests and fifteen bishops. 

If you go on in the same proportion in America, you will, in 
ten more years, have not less than ten thousand Jesuits, and ten 
millions of Catholics. 

Then all these people having votes, the Protestant politicians 
will have very little chance of ever obtaining the supremacy, 
and the influences will be all Catholic. 

Alas ! alas ! for America, when the Roman Catholic population 
shall overbalance the Protestant and native Americans ; for then, 
in the legislative bodies of America, the Roman Catholics will 
rise, as they have risen in England, and as they are now aris- 
ing in Prussia, to immense power, and they will use that power 
to the destruction of all religious freedom. 

Alas! for all your dreams of the future development and 
greatness of the United States, and the annexation of neighbor- 
ing Roman Catholic territory. When the Legislature of this 
country shall be thus overpowered by Catholicism, then will 
commence the decline of your Protestant American Republic. 

Tolerance! tolerance!! Oh! be tolerant, say some good, 



AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 277 

quiet people, who belong more especially to the Oxford species 
of Protestantism ; we are all sister churches. Tolerance, that is a 
very great Christian virtue. I have myself preached tolerance 
in my own country, but I would have tolerance on both sides ; 
and when I find Protestants all tolerant, and the Roman Catho- 
lics all intolerant, it is madness to preach tolerance, in order to 
be devoured. 

I am the first to advocate tolerance, but it must be reciprocal 
tolerance. Were you to see a madman rushing against you and 
yours, sword in hand, would you for the sake of being tolerant 
open your breast to receive the blow, and allow your children to 
be murdered for the same motive? No. The best way is to 
keep this man in a lunatic asj^um to recover his lost mind. 
The Roman Catholic system will come to you with an unsheath- 
ed sword, will you then present your Protestant bosoms to 
receive its blow ? if you do you will be the first victims, and 
sacrifice for ever the freedom of your children. 

The reason the Romanists are so strong is, that they are so 
united. "We, in" Italy, in the time of our crusade lost our inde- 
pendence, because our forces were too much divided. Protest- 
ants, work together against the common enemy ! Union, Pro- 
testants ; not a nominal union, but real true union of all con 
gregations, of all religious opinions ; union, union ! 

Then you will see Pope and Popery fall in your country ; and 
your American flag will be always glorious, always the standard 
of freedom, and the refuge and home for all the exiles of 
European lands of despotism, and from even the very name of 
Popery. 



PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION 

AT 

JfietrttfrnlitEn lull. 

— ♦- — 

TESTIMONIAL TO FATHER GAVAZZI 

AND 

GAVAZZrS FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



Dttbing- tlie course of the preceding Lectures, several consul- 
tations were held among some friends of the cause to which 
they were devoted, and it was determined that the Father could 
not be permitted to leave the city without some testimonial of 
the interest his visit had excited, and the profound satisfaction 
derived from his Lectures. The result of these deliberations 
was, that on Friday evening, 13th May, an immense assemblage 
of the citizens of New York congregated in Metropolitan Hall 
to present a testimonial to Father Gavazzi. The ladies attended 
in the proportion of ten to one ; and, as the body of the hall 
and the galleries were well filled, the scene was very brilliant. 
Doctor Ferris, of New York, presided, and the proscenium was 
filled with clergymen. The Chairman came forward, and ad- 
dressed the audience as follows : — 

"• ' Honor to whom honor is due,' is a maxim belonging as much 
to Christianity as to common righteousness. 

" American Protestants are engaged in a work of incalculable 
moment to our country and our common Christianity. We be- 
lieve in our inmost hearts, that the Papal system is equally the 
foe of civil and religious freedom. "We believe that we can alone 
perpetuate our noble institutions, and the inheritance bequeathed 



280 DR. cox's ADDRESS. 

by our fathers, by maintaining a free conscience and a free gospel. 
"VVe feel that our struggle is for all that should be dear to us, all 
that is hallowed by these sacrifices which our freedom cost. The 
signs of the times are portentous of great and solemn events of 
evil, if we are careless — good, if we are vigilant. 

" While thus engaged, a distinguished stranger comes among us. 
He comes as a witness, emancipated from the very thraldom 
which we seek to avoid ; he throws the whole weight of his 
character and his eloquence into our scale ; he speaks with the 
earnestness of deep conviction ; he has done a good work ; he 
has confirmed all that we have urged against Rome ; he has shed 
new additional lights on the questions involved ; he has per- 
formed vast labors. 

"Now it is befitting that we, to whom he has been a co-laborer, 
should give him some suitable expression of our regard, and our 
sense of his services. This is the object of this meeting. Honor 
to whom honor is due." (Applause.) 

After prayer by Rev. Mr. Hutton, Dr. Cox came forward to 
present the testimonial. He (Dr. Cox) proceeded then to say : 

"Mr. Chairman, and my respected and honored friends, you 
could not easily lose the impression obtained some four months 
since in a meeting, presided over by your Mayor before he had 
been a week in office, and where I had the honor of addressing 
a large audience, all sympathizing with those poor people, less 
the victims of the Duke of Tuscany than of the Jesuits. In the 
Tabernacle, seven weeks ago last Wednesday, I had the honor 
of uttering the welcome of America to the Italian Gavazzi. 
Proceeding upon documents most authentic, and signed by 
names that conciliated the confidence of both sides of the At- 
lantic, I felt that I was hazarding nothing in anticipating for 
that stranger the very high congratulation and deep-toned con- 
fidence of applause with which, in joy and grief, we, in this nu- 
merous assembly, bid him farewell to-night. 

" On that first occasion I felt the honor deeply ; but how much 
more should I have felt it had I known, as I afterwards did, that 
Archbishop Hughes was present, in disguise. We have no more 
ill-will towards Mr* John, than Gavazzi himself. Instead of 



281 

envying him, I wish he knew one thousandth parj; of the respon- 
sibility for eternity, if not for time, that rests upon him. We are 
sorry, indeed, that such a stranger, with a right to the succession 
of St. Peter, as himself, with all the quips and quizms of the 
Italian language at the end of his tongue, should have been over- 
looked. It is strange that hospitality, if nothing else, should not 
have brought him here to give ta this stranger the right-hand 
of fellowship, in order to show how entirely he is a friend to 
universal liberty. But then, as an American myself, I recollect 
that some foreign officials — some known and some unknown — 
cannot be naturalized, because, to swear allegiance to this go- 
vernment, they must forswear their allegiance to the greatest 
despot in the world ! 

" For reasons which I cannot think myself bound to analyze, or 
even to understand, I have been, almost at the going dgwn of 
the sun, arrested by some zealous bailiff a©d brought here to 
perform this service, and have thought it best, on the whole, to 
give up another duty, possibly not quite so imperious and im- 
portant, to speak for these honored brethren, whose names I 
will read at the end of this document. 

" My honored friends : 

" The occasion is a rare one in some respects ; and 
one of which we might say — these things do not come to pass 
without an eternal Providence. The architect of that brother's 
mind and body made him as well as Martin Luther, and our 
prayers to God for him are, that he may prosper in all his enter- 
prises. Some have been surprised at the type of sentiment 
and of religious thought, which Gavazzi has announced and 
enacted in this country. He says, 'My Italy,' so often, I am 
told, but not so often as Washington said, my America ; I 
should like to gauge the dimensions through a microscope of 
that piety which has no patriotism with it. If he were to come 
here as a citizen — and he might be naturalized with a good con- 
science — I should not think him worthy of adoption if he could 
ever forget the land of his nativity. I pray those who do not 
think I am about to follow Bishop Ives, to suppose that I have 
reason with all others for thinking that Gavazzi is not less a 



282 DK. cox's ADDRESS. 

Christian and theologian, because, instead of waiting for Luther 
and Protestantism, he goes back to the thunder of the Apostle 
Paul. 

" What do I care for Protestantism, but for the cause of Chris- 
tianity, my country, and my race ? We are above Protestantism, 
but we are Protestants, because we are Christians ; and I rather 
congratulate the humor and wit of that instinctive Paddy, of 
whom a story is told by Alexander King, who, by the way, has 
true nobility enough to have been King Alexander : 

" Pat and Barney were a-talking, and Pat said, ' I hear ye're 
becoming Protestant V 

" ' Oh ! no,' said Barney, ' I am just reading the Scriptures, and 
if you would know anything you should read them, too ;' ' but,' 
says Barney, ' did you ever see in that book anything called the 
epistle to the Komans ?' 

"'Yes.' ^ 

" ' Well, did you ever hear of an epistle to the Protestants V 

" If all the world would love the epistle to the Romans, I 
would let Protestantism take care of itself, with earth and 
heaven's patronage; and I cannot but add, with Luther, that 
we cannot now conceive how inspiration itself could have made 
a document more conservative of the Primitive Church than 
that very epistle which was directed to them, and which it has 
since been the very vitals of their policy to contradict and hide 
away in the cobwebs of the cloister. I will not trespass upon 
your good humor too long. I wish to be indulged a little in the 
beginning, because I may be cut off at the end, to say a thing or 
two as an American Christian, in reference to the visit of our 
distinguished brother. I do not wonder he has won so many 
hearts. I do not wonder at the effect his visit has produced in 
certain quarters, where policy and Jesuit tactics have said, 
'mum' — don't speak a word about the ex-monk — keep cool — 
the people will forget him and afterwards remember us.' 

" Perhaps, ' cross John,' the people will remember you a great 
while. There is one thing in the visit of our brother so generic 
and so appropriate to this age, and to this great but perilled 
country, that I must state it. It is in reference to that kind of 



DU. cox's ADDRESS. 283 

contemptible charity not rejoicing in the truth, but rejoicing 
only against the truth. 

" Let the men of heaven show themselves worthy of earth by 
loving the eternal truth, and by remembering that thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself. With that view our brother has come 
among us, with ill-will to nobody, and with a voice like that 
which proclaimed at Bethlehem, ' Glory to God in the highest 
and on earth, peace and good wiU towards men' — but not peace 
against the truth. 

" Truth and grace ; truth — the grand instrument and the 
medium of the architect of the new creation — truth not igno- 
rance — truth not error — God's truth, not man's invention, that 
is what we mean. It is our Christianity, for that we live, and, 
God willing it — we do not court persecution — ^but, by the 
grace of God, we are ready and able to die for the truth. 

" For one, my respected countrymen, and you know that I am 
but a villager of Brooklyn, I congratulate myself and thank God, 
that the visit and the efforts of our Italian friend have found 
such intelligent and such mighty appreciation in this country ; 
and not only when the Lectures have been read in New York and 
Brooklyn, but when they have been, with all due deference to 
the gentlemen who have reported them — for they cannot report 
the thunder and lightning — they cannot put an earthquake into 
types — they cannot make the compositors take the first notion 
of Gavazzi — ^yet from the Passamaquoddy to the Eio Grande, 
and from Canada to California, those Lectures have been read, 
and under all the realm of e pluribus unum have made millions 
of American hearts throb ! 

" I thank God for it ; and, now, I ask briefly to add, before the 
peculiar service I stand here to perform shall arrest me and 
arrest you ; I have a duty to perform which money cannot can- 
cel or purchase. There is something which cannot be bought for 
gold. 

" ' Can gold gain friendship ? Impudence of hope ! 
As well mere man an angel might beget. 
Love, and love only, is the loan for love. 
Lorenzo, pride repress, nor hope to find 
A friend, but what has found a friend in thee. 
All like the purchase, few the price will pay ; 
And this makes friends such miracles below.' 



284 DR. cox's ADDRESS. 

" 1 ask you, as Christians, so to love him, as to love the cause 
in ■which he was born, and, I trust, born again ; to love him and 
to love Italy for what it once was, and for what, regenerated, it 
may yet be. I ask you to pray God for the revolution of the 
populated millions of that awful, wonderful, historical peninsula, 
and to bless God for holding him as an instrument in his right 
hand, that God himself may use our Gavazzi, to do that which, 
without God, no mortal man, no convention of seraphs, to say 
nothing of sages, warriors, and champions, could be equal to, 
or could perform. 

"I ask the Christians of America to pray for that cause in 
which Gavazzi is a sworn crusader to the end of the war ; and, 
if I might be allowed — and no doubt all I say, critics will catch 
up and find out that it is characteristic — I intend to have it cha- 
racteristic — I thank God that I have character enough to have 
it characteristic. 

"If I ever felt, Mr. Chancellor, disposed to quote Latin, I might 
be excused when addressing our illustrious visitor. I remember 
a beautiful stanza of what old Horace says to Augustus — who, 
great as a chieftain, and founder of the Roman empire ; who is, 
in my own view, but a puppet and a toy, compared to this 
champion of the truth of God — who, posted in the fore front of 
the battle, nails his colors to the mast ; and, as Maccabseus says 
to Athanasius, ' In God we trust, and in God we conquer.' I 
have a grand mind to translate, for the sake of the ladies, before 
I utter it. 

" You know what transubstantiation came from. He says to 
Augustus, old Horace does, and in that sentence he intends to 
speak the spirit of his nation ; and, with a httle change, I think 
young Italy would not be misrepresented : — 

" ' Late, not early, may you return to heaven ; a great while may 
you be preserved to act, prosperous, among the great people of 
Romulus ; and may not some great and unexpected Providence 
remove you, justly oifended at our crimes; ever in your native 
land, may you be spared to enjoy great triumphs here, and to be 
called not father only, but prince.' 

" That is the prayer which the enlightened piety of Italy, and 



DR. cox's ADDRESS. 285 

of men now numbered by hundreds of thousands would utter for 
him ; and, as I am sure he understands the reference, I will 
spare this audience the quotation of it in Latin. 

" Ladies and gentlemen — I have the honor to read to you what 
six or seven hundred friends have put into my hands — putting 
at the same time something very sincerely into his — something 
that comes first from their hearts and then from their purses," 

Dr. Cox then read the following Address, interlarding it with 
appropriate commentaries : — 

"Padee Alexandee Gavazzi : — As friends of your cause, your 
country, and yourself personally, we present to you this slight 
testimonial of our regard. The offering enclosed (one thousand 
dollars) is but just sufficient to give you, for your last course of 
Lectures, the freedom of the hall. Appropriately, it should 
have preceded your labors ; but now, perhaps, still more appro- 
priately, as the testimony of our admiration and confidence, it 
closes them. "We wish publicly thus to express our approbation 
of your efforts, and our consideration of the great good which, 
by the blessing of God, must result tliereform. 

" You have succeeded, on a subject of vast importance and dif- 
ficulty, surrounded with prejudice and odium, in mingling in- 
struction, information, argument, scriptural and historical truth, 
personal knowledge and experience, wit, sarcasm, humor, earn- 
est feeling, and powerful eloquence, in such a manner as to win 
the admiration and awaken the interest of multitudes who have 
heard you, and multitudes more who have only read the brief 
reports of your Lectures in the daily papers. TVe rejoice in 
yom- devoted patriotism, your ardent love of liberty, your ab- 
horrence of the Papal despotism, your acquaintance with divine 
truth, your love of the Bible and your reliance upon it, your 
perfect frankness, fearlessness, and independence. May God 
guide you, instruct your own heart more and more in his truth, 
baptize you with his spirit, prepare you to preach the gospel of 
Christ in your own dear Italy, and make you victorious, by his 
grace, over all enemies ! 

"We present you these copies of God's Word — one in our own 
native tongue, one in yours. [Dr. Cox kissed the books as he 



286 DR. cox's ADDRESS. 

handed them to Padre Gavazzi, and the audience applauded 
most enthusiastically.] In the conflict against the Papal system, 
as against every part of the kingdom of Satan, the Bible is the 
foundation of all our hopes, the source of all our strength, the 
storehouse of our weapons. The Bible in our hearts and lives, 
the Bible in all our institutions, the Bible at our fireside, in our 
sanctuaries and our schools, the Bible as free as the air, and as 
all-surrounding, the Bible, here, there, everywhere, is the sup- 
port and the safeguard of our civil and religious liberties, and 
the only sure ground of national and personal prosperity. May 
the Word of God fill your own dear native Italy ; may it prevail 
in all your families, your churches, your schools ; may it speedily 
have free course and be glorified everywhere, with you as with 
us, and may your dear native land be free with the liberty of 
Christian fi-eemen, by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus ! 
And God grant that you yourself may be spared to witness the 
beginning of this day of glory ! 

"In behalf of your hearers and friends, who have, with warm 
hearts, united in this testimonial, we are most respectfally and 
truly yours, 

" Geoege B. Cheevee, 
" Geoege Douglas, 

" C. K. KOBEET, 

"Anson J. Phelps, 
"James A. D wight, 

" MOETIMEE De MoTTE. 
*' New York, Fi-iday evening, May 13, 1853." 

As the Keverend Doctor read the signatures, he gave some 
characteiistic remarks upon each, as follows: — 

" These names are the representatives of more than six millions 
of people. 

" George B. GJieever — ^I hope he will continue to be an a-chiever, 
as he has always been. 

" George B. Douglas — I shall never forget the good dinner he 
gave me in Paris a year or two ago. I think the banquet this 
evening, however, far enough transcends that. 



GAVAZZl'3 FAREWELL ADDRESS. 28*7 

•* ' Ties of time and day can sever, 
But the ties of spirit never.' 

'''•Anson G. Phelps — I hope he don't understand Latin. I 
baptize him, Patrm dignce^ digniisjilius. 

^^ James A. Dwight — May that name, from the President of 
Yale College to the end of the world, be connected with pure 
theology. 

^'■Mortimer Be Motte — I know very little of this worthy 
brother, except that he was the bailiff who arrested me, and 
brought me here to-night. 

" I hope the brethren will excuse me for these comments, be- 
cause I am very fond of commentaries. 

" I am requested to say that our friend De Motte is a native 
of Holland, in this country. He may be one of the men that 
old Amsterdam reproduced. Sir, since the old Duke of Alva 
sent thousands to death in the Low Countries, Protestants, 
neither by Spain no? Italy, could ever be exterminated from those 
countries which first made New York a central pole of the world, 
before it was New York, and for one I don't think we have 
gained a great deal of advantage by the change, for its present 
name was given in honor of that wretch, James H., Duke of 
York, whom England vomited out of its limits." 

After Dr. Cox had retired. Padre Gavazzi came forward, and 
was received with enthusiastic cheering, which continued for 
some moments. 

The applause having subsided, the Father spoke as follows : 

" Some people will, perhaps, be disappointed this evening, be- 
cause I have very little that is new to say, though something. 
But my Farewell Address must be mostly a recapitulation of all 
my addresses, so that I have only some corollaries, by which I 
shall try to prove some general propositions. Now, I come 
again to some general conclusions, for the benefit of your whole 
country ; and first, I am very glad to look back to my first ad- 
dress in New York ; certainly, my first appearance was, for 
some people, rather dreadful. 

" I announced myself as a man of war, therefore the peacefully 
inclined disclaimed ray appearance in America ; but now, after 



288 

two months and a half sojourn among you, I repeat, gladly, that 
my mission in America is a mission of war, and I shall maintain 
war I My mission is for war, and shall be war — war against the 
dignitaries, war against the terrors, war against the supersti- 
tions of the Papist system ! War ! war ! for ever, my dear 
brethren. 

" Now, when I have declared war and maintain war, I am 
glad to find that it is the only element to preserve free America. 
This is what is necessary in America, in order to balance and to 
maintain an equilibrium between Papists and Protestants. Do 
not mistake things ia America. When I arrived, the prevalence 
of power and opinion was for the Papists ; the Papists were free 
to speak against Protestants, but the Protestants were not at 
liberty to speak against Papists ; therefore, it was necessary to 
interpose a war in order to recovej: a balance. Yes, in America, 
there was freedom to speak against Protestants, but let us also 
have freedom for Protestants to speak againsf the Popish system. 
It is also necessary to maintain the purity of Protestantism. In 
order to maintain the purity of the air, it is sometimes necessary 
to have fresh breezes ; in order to maintain the purity of water 
it is necessary to have strong gales ; and in order to maintain 
the purity of Protestantism, it is necessary to have fresh and 
ever-renewed discussion. Without discussion Protestantism be- 
comes dull and damp ; therefore it is necessary to renew, from 
time to time, a discussion about Protestant matters, and espe- 
cially to preserve Protestants from the errors of Popery. 

" My dear brethren, remember what Christ said in the gospel, 
when the father of a family was asleep the enemy of man came 
to sow over the good field bad tares. When you sleep, when 
you rest peaceably over your American laurels, the Jesuits, 
bishops, auti archbishops, work and sow tares in the Protestant 
field, my dear brethren ; and therefore, war, war, to excite the 
eradication of these weeds ; and, finally, war to cut off the 
rising influence of Popedom and Popery in this country. 

" My dear brethren, remember what I have said in all my Lec- 
tures, I have nothing against individuals, I have always respected 
them ; and, moreover, in my dear country I respect all religious 



ADDRESS. 289 

opinions, but I cannot respect the system. "When I find a bad 
system, it is my duty to speak against that system, in order to 
enlighten the Papists, and induce them to embrace the purity of 
the Christian faith, as it exists among Protestants ; and there- 
fore war, in order to prevent the increase of Papist influence in 
your America. 

" Oh, America ! you are no more to-day as you were in 1820 
or 1830. Day aften day and year after year the Eoman Catholic 
population increases in your country ; and what is worse, the 
Jesuits increase in yom* country ; Roman Catholic prelates in- 
crease, and even apparent Protestants, with Catholic views and 
principles at heart. Therefore, I repeat, that if twenty years 
ago it was a crime to speak against Popery, to-day it is a crime 
to be silent on Popery. It is your duty, Americans, to look 
about you to discover the arts of the Papists, employed to over- 
throw your religious and civil liberty ; therefore war, always 
war, and everywhere war, in your America, by myself will I 
proclaim ! 

" Now, I say, yes, give leave to all who choose to land on your 
hospitable shore. May America ever be the hospitable refuge 
of all Europe, as it now is ; and also let the Eoman Catholic be 
free in his worship in America. Yes, but if they are free in 
this country, may America never beicome a Roman Catholio 
country. 

" Let ft be different from my dear country ; let there be free 
land, free government, but no Roman Catholic government! 
Kever, never ! This is the first corollary ; namely, the neces- 
sity of maintaining an evangelical war in your country. 

" The second corollary is — 

" It is necessary to maintain your nationality, especially in 
your schools. I am glad to be among the champions of your 
National Schools. I know the great care and art of the Jesuits 
on this point. They wish to transubstantiate your National 
Schools; but it is in your power, my brethren, to prevent 
such an extraordinary mutilation of your schools. No transub- 
stantiation in your schools I You should, therefore, maintain 
their nationality. You may be proud of the name of Ameri- 

13 



290 GAVAZZI'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

cans, and may you never change this glorious name on account 
of any Jesuits. No, we exiles, we emigrants, are proud of being 
Americans in America. Therefore, don't change your name 
for any Italian name, French name, Irish name, or any other 
name. 

" American schools ! American, and nothing else I and they 
shall be American schools while they remain Protestant schools. 
Whenever this name shall be changed into a Papist name, you 
will never more have even Popish schools in your country. Oh 
I have dreamed of this at once little and numerous army of 
good American boys — I dreamed it sometimes — and when, on 
the other hand, I see the monstrous dragon coming with open 
mouth from Rome, against your America — I dream sometimes 
of seeing this little army of Protestants, Bible in hand, march- 
ing forth against these Romish dragons ! 

" "We agree, then, on this point. We agree, then, that the 
name of National American School is all that Americana can 
expect from these schools. Oh, my dear brethren, educate your 
young people in Protestant learning ; prevent your boys from 
being scandals and disgraces, and you will have stonger native 
Americans in future. Moreover, educate your children in the 
glorious duties of an American citizen ; especially, inculcate in 
them the freedom of voting at your elections according to their 
conscience, their opinion, and for the benefit of their native 
country, and not to vote for bishops, archbishops, or father 
confessors ! 

" Now, as an appendix to this second corollary, I recommend 
you to watch the Jesuitical movement in your country ; and if it 
is impossible, according to your Constitution, to expel from Ame- 
rica the foreign Jesuits and prelates coming in so rapidly from 
Rome, watch, Americans, watch, in order to prevent mobs, 
riots, and discords, which they promote and encourage, as they 
did last year in England. 

" Now, I am about to speak of some new matters. I was mis- 
represented of having accused the President of having made 
choice of a Roman Catholic to fill a high office in his Cabinet. 
I don't speak of any individual, when I say, take care that some 



OAVAZZl's FAREWELL ADDRESS. 291 

public oflSces are not occupied by Komanists. I don't speak now 
about magistrates. I remember, in a very large town in York' 
shire, a Roman Catholic magistrate. To choose Catholic magis- 
trates is well enough, especially for Roman Catholic functions ; 
but don't give them any high offices, because, in a Protestant 
country, the strength of the government should be in Protestant 
bands. Now, what I have to say is against the advisability of 
having Roman Catholics employed in the post-office, in the law 
departments, or in any high places. No, no ! Give them posts 
of honor, give what you please to Roman Catholics, but don't 
give them places of power, and especially, don't give them any 
place in the post-office. Never, never ! Don't say it is not my 
business to enter into a discussion of American affairs. No, I 
respect the laws of your country. I speak of the system, be- 
cause I know what happened in Italy on this point. 

" The Jesuits in Italy, as they are now doing in England, 
made great efforts to get possession of all post-offices. The result 
Avas, that many letters were lost, many were opened, and before 
the government could receive intelligence of an event that might 
happen, the Jesuits had already this intelligence, and they took 
care to use their knowledge for their own purposes. People 
may say, we have here a law against opening letters ; yes, but 
it is so easy to say this letter was lost, this letter never arrived, and 
the like statements — therefore, no Jesuits in the post-offices! 

" This is sufficiently illustrated by history. During our war 
near Novara, in which the Piedmontese were defeated, and in 
which for a time our Italian freedom was lost, don't believe it 
was lost because the battle was not well fought, for only two or 
three Italian brigades cost the Austrians five thousand lives. 
"What, then, was the origin of this defeat ? It was the loss of a 
telegraphic dispatch sent from Turin to the field of battle ; it was 
sent from a high quarter, yet it never reached its destination. 

" After the loss of the battle, the matter was investigated, and 
it became known that the head of the chief telegraphic depart- 
ment was a Jesuit, whose father was a Roman prelate. That 
accounted for the dispatch not having been sent which lost the 
battle. 



292 GAVAZZl's FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

"No Jesuits, therefore, in the post-office, and no Koman 
Cathohcs in the post-office, if you wish to preserve the dignity, 
the standing, the prosperity and the liberty of your country. 

" After this general manner, I come to one peculiar fact of 
New York, in order to open the eyes of some New Yorkers, who 
believe themselves secure under the shadow of the American 
flag. "Well, it has been said to me — but, as I am not a spy, I 
only denounce the matter if it is true ; take care if it is untrue or 
exaggerated. 

" As I have never spoken on this point, I denounce the mat- 
ter. In your New York you have an orphan asylum for poor 
people. When a family in the country wishes for the services 
of one of these children, they call on the mistress of the house 
and ask for a boy. 

" Suppose I called for a boy. The person who called for a 
boy, in the first instance was questioned, 'are you Eoman 
Catholic?' by the matron of the asylum. 

"If you say, 'no,' then she will say, 'you cannot have any 
boy.' 

" Are you in New York, my brethren ? No. You are in 
Eome. Is this your American Protestant liberty ? No. It is 
the liberty of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

"You, Protestant people, pay taxes for this asylum — your 
Municipal Council has the surveillance of this asylum — you must 
think that the matron of this asylum is either a Eoman Catholic 
or favors only Eoman Catholics, when they caU for a boy. Go 
and sleep, now. 

" Now, I come directly to another point. I repeat what I said 
in one of my first lectures — namely, that it is not only in Eussell 
Square, in London, where young girls are educated to be Jesuits, 
it is also in New York, and in America. I have, therefore, a 
new argument for my corollarium. 

" I said, take Eoman Catholic girls for your servants if you 
must, but watch them ; generally speaking, they are rude and 
ignorant, but they often become gentle and refined ; but don't 
take Eoman Catholic girls educated among the Sisters of Meroy 



OAVAZZl's FAREWELL ADDRESS. 293 

or the Sisters of Charity, because they are fatal to your fami- 
lies. Remember what I said before, that those educated by the 
Sisters of Mercy and of Charity are very fine girls ; the educa- 
tion is good, you cannot find anywhere else such excellent cham- 
bermaids, so diligent, so active, so practised in everything, espe- 
cially in needle-work. I make my compliments to the Protestant 
families who enjoy such a blessing of God. But, remember, the 
better they are educated, the more refined they are, the more 
fatal are they to your children and to your families. 

" You know better than I do about these things, because I am 
not very well acquainted with nursery matters. Your children 
are always with their nurses ; the more kind and gentle they 
are, the more they are loved by your children. Well, your 
children having a Roman Catholic nurse, educated among nuns, 
seeing them morning, noon, and night, kneeling before the Vir- 
gin Mary, and often provided with beautiful images like babies, 
of course, curiosity and a desu*e of imitation in the children are 
excited. The young children, day after day looking at the 
beautiful images, and seeing the nurses kneeling and kissing 
the Madonnas, day after day, become acquainted with Roman 
Catholic practices. 

"I was a teacher of a family in London where there were 
Roman Catholic nurses, and I was invited to look at a represen- 
tation of the cradle of the Virgin Mary ; and the httle children 
were delighted with the images, so that day after day they 
became imbued with Roman Catholic practices. 

Do you say that the servants merely follow the wishes of 
their masters, and that they will give Protestant educations if 
required, to do so ? No. It is always dangerous to give poison, 
even though you may have prepared the antidote ? l^o. Give 
pure education ; and, then, the antidote will only be wanting on 
extraordinary occasions, and so you will prepare your children 
for Protestantism. Remember, too, the Catholics in Protestant 
masks have one half, the other known as Puseyites — beautiful, 
beautiful I 

** Forget not that the youth remembers for a long time the 



294 

teachings of his childhood ;* and so, if the first example is Roman 
Catholic, what a dreadful future there wiU be fbr these illiterate 
children I 

" It is said, too, that they never proselyte the children in the 
schools. When I was a strong and faithful Papist, in Turin, I 
remember a girl from a family of the Waldenses, who was 
employed as a chambermaid and ni^rse in a Koman Catholic 
family, and I preached against the practice of employing Pro- 
testant nurses ; and the priest, my brethren, praised my courage 
in daring to preach against the Protestant servants. 

" I know, now, however, that the Protestants don't proselyte ; 
they are only in the houses as servants, and not as teachers ; but, 
I can maintain now, on my own knowledge, that if you think 
the Catholic servants do not make proselytes, you are mistaken, 
Americans. You think that these nuns, who are obedient to 
their father confessors, will not proselyte among your children ? 
you are greatly mistaken. Remember that the Sisters of Mercy 
and Charity, did not come from Europe in behalf of the Ameri- 
can Protestant people. Oh ! no ! My dear brethren, they came 
from Europe in behalf of the Roman Catholics, and only in sup- 
port of the Popish system ; and, never forget this point, my 
dear brethren : I found in America, copied into a paper of this 
morning, some anti-slavery remarks, from an association or 
union — I don't remember the name. Well ! — you dare to have 
an anti-slavery society in your midst, in behalf of the slave, 
when you have domestic slaves — slaves in your homes: not 
negro slaves, but white slaves. You have learned, notwith- 
standing, that the best charity begins at home. You have anti- 
slavery societies? Oh! no! You should not have them. The 
best kind of charity begins at home. If you will have an anti- 
slavery society, all right — but you should have, beforehand, an 
anti-nunnery association: because these nuns who come here 
from Europe are here generally against their wills; and, there- 
fore, they are slaves. 

" Take care of your wives, then — guard them against these 
Influences — ^and after that, you may go and promote the aholi- 



gavazzi'b farewell addbebs. 295 

tion of negro slavery, with more propriety. No ! I speak now, 
generally. "Will you answer me as some Americans have done ? 
As practical men, have you no better than these Sisters of Charity 
to employ as nurses ? Oh no — be silent ! Don't behe your fa- 
cilities for obtaining the right sort of nurses. What did you do 
before the arrival of Sisters of Charity? Don't dishonor your 
American name ! America don't need any Sisters of Charity 
for the education of her children. No ! But suppose you need 
a better education for your children. Well — you have so many 
benevolent societies in your country ! I find a St. Patrick's So- 
ciety — with many standards, many flags, many ribbons and 
devices. Why have you not a benevolent society for the edu- 
cation of nurses and chambermaids ? They are poor people, and 
I am very sure, need such education. So, I know you will 
greatly promote the cause of Christianity, if you will educate 
Protestant chambermaids. At any rate, I know that these 
others will corrupt you — these Sisters of Charity will corrupt 
youi- children. But those parents who send their daughters for 
education are the worst of all. Oh, that is bad ! They are a 
dreadful importation from France. They are a Jesuitical im- 
portation to this America — these ladies of the Sacred Heart of 
Jesus. 

" But we are told they are so fine, so high, so pious, so meek, 
so benevolent, that it is very ungentlemanly to speak against 
these ladies. I beg pardon of all champions of the ladies of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus — but it is my duty to speak against these 
ladies. But the more fine and beautiful they are, the more fatal 
they are to your society. Yes — I confess with, you, they are 
very fascinating with your young pupils, with your daughters. 
They are very learned — especially in the pure French language. 
They are beautifully dressed, in their romantic garb ; and when 
they walk in their park and grass, when the trees and 
flowers are in bloom, it is beautiful to see all their pupils, in ro- 
mantic uniform, and in very romantic costume. But it is a very 
beautiful thing to see. Yes — ^but it is too beautiful, my dear 
brethren 1 because, if they are very fine and first-rate ladies, 



290 

they are also first-rate Jesuitesses, my dear brethren ! — they are 
also first-rate Eoman Catholics, oh, American people ! There- 
fore, I say what I said in another lecture : yom* sons and yonr 
children will not praise you because you educated their sisters 
and mothers in music and the French language ; but they will 
ask you for good Protestant education. The Eoman Catholic 
sisters and Jesuitesses of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, cannot edu- 
cate, for a good Protestant faith, yom- Protestant daughters. A 
Protestant- American mother is now in tears and despair because, 
a few weeks ago, her daughter became Eoman Catholic, because 
she had been educated among these sisters. This is among the 
first, but it will not be the last example, if aU Protestant fathers 
and mothers don't take care of their daughters. Take away 
your daughters, then, from the Sacred Heart, if you will pre- 
serve them from Catholicism. And on this point, also, if you 
continue to ask me, as before, "if we have no better seminary 
for our daughters, what are we to do ?" I answer, you must be 
sadly troubled in order to obtain an education for your daugh- 
ters ! The Americans are noted for being speculators — they have 
in California, Mexico, Europe, and Havana — everywhere, specu- 
lation. Very well ! I have nothing to say against your specula- 
tions in cotton, sugar, and wool. You speculate, too, in railways, 
and kill many persons : you speculate in life and fire insurances. 
You have first-rate hotels, which cost half a million of dollars — 
and yet you cannot have, in New York, very finely and beauti- 
fully situated and conducted academies for ladies, in which Ger- 
man professors are provided to teach German, Italian professors 
for Italian, French professors for the French, &c. ! You cannot 
have such a Protestant academy ? Oh, shame ! If you are so 
good in speculating in other things, and cannot turn your atten- 
tion a little to this speculation ! This proposed education is not 
for males, but for women, and the education of your daughters 
.should be the business of American ladies. 

" I find in this America a great feminine movement. I have 
nothing to say against that — I respect women. You have some 
opponents — goveniesses, presidentesses ! — you have some oppp- 



GAVAZZl's FAREWELL ADDRESS. 297 

nents, my dear sisters ! But yon cannot have any opponents in 
the field of education — ^because it is your exclusive ground, it is 
your sphere. Therefore, my dear American ladies, pardon me ! 
I suppose the American ladies will always find some Clay, Jeffer- 
son, Webster, and even some "Washington, in behalf of America : 
but you cannot have good Americans without the education of 
American ladies, my dear brethren ! Defend your rights, then, 
in this capital point! {Rere two wreatJis were thrown to the 
speaker.) Do you wish to speak in public meetings ? No, no I 
Neglect all other acquirements — the first acquirement of Ameri- 
can ladies, is the education of American girls — especially to take 
away from the hands, from the beaks and talons of the ladies of 
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the ladies of America. After that, 
the American ladies may take an opportunity to speak, and de- 
liver their speeches. "When they have provided a good educa- 
tion — then, go! and become Presidentesses of the United 
States ! 

" Now, in concluding practically my Address, after having given 
some advice to the American people — ^remember that I do not 
preach for myself, under the blessing of God ! This is my heart. 
If I were here for a humbug ! I don't dare to expose my life for 
a humbug ! I speak for you, Americans, and for my Italy — and 
not for myself; and, therefore, I have a duty to perform for 
Americans. I was under the protection of the American flag in 
Rome, in the house of Mi*. Freeman. I have the duty of paying 
for your hospitality rendered to my exiled countrymen ; there- 
fore, I have the duty to speak to you, and to warn you of your 
danger. And, if God blesses my mission, in my short time in 
America, and, if I never speak again in New York, it shall all be 
for my Italy. Italy seems to be dead — ^but she is still a living 
country. And, as I defended my country against the ungentle 
attack of the young man in England — Bailey Cochrane — I also 
shall try to defend her against some in America. Don't insult 
the oppressed people ! And, remember that, from this Italy, 
even oppressed as she is by her despots, all that is beautiful in 
the arts came, till to-day. Therefore, these shall be my last 
words. 

13* 



298 OAVAZZl's FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

" But, now, I rise to ask yon in behalf of spiritual Italy — but, 
first, I must thank my friends, and beg them to excuse my bro- 
ken arguments and language. The tongue is sometimes disobe- 
dient to the heart. I thank all my supporters, moral and phy- 
sical, who grant to me the means of paying the expenses of this 
room. I thank the press, who have supported me in preaching 
the "Word of God in their America. I thank the Koman Catho- 
lic press — ^because they cover me with ignominy, without 
answering my arguments. I thank God ; if I appear in their 
newspapers as Satan, Belial, and Beelzebub, it will be a good 
thing, because it will be a guarantee to me that I am in the 
right way, and not a Papist. The only insult that Roman 
Catholic papers could put on me, would be to call me " Jesuit." 
Finally, I thank the Protestant press, and even those that have 
spoken against my mission and my Lectures. And I hope the 
attacks against me and my mission will produce impartiality in 
this Protestant press. As it has attacked me, so I hope it will 
attack any bishop, archbishop, or cardinal, who shall dare to 
attack Protestantism. 

" Now, my last prayer shall be for Italy. In order to main- 
tain the pure worship, I have commenced a church among the 
Italians here — if you will help me and my Italians to maintain 
themselves as good Christians from Eome — you will do a great 
good for Protestantism ; because you will remember that while 
Italy is a Roman Catholic country, your own country will 
always be in danger. Therefore, in order to preserve your own 
liberties, it is necessary to down with Pope and Popery. The 
best instruments to destroy Pope and Popery, are the Italians 
themselves. Help us to prepare a mission in America among the 
Italians ; and, in order to prepare it in a substantial way, a few 
shillings will be collected— not for me, but aU of it in your 
hands — all for the trustees of the new building for the Italian 
Christian Church. May God bless all the efforts of our mission, 
to provide and preserve this Church 1 And, may God bless you, 
for ever and for ever !" 

Dr. Ferris here rose, and said, "I have the pleasure of 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



announcing that a gentleman liere pledges himself to give a 
thousand dollars towards the erection of this Church, whenever 
it shall be constituted on an evangelical basis." 

This announcement was received with great applause, and the 
assemblage then dispersed. 



THE END. 



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